No one knew what Vice Minister Shen had said to the Emperor during his audience. But the moment Vice Minister Shen left, the Emperor immediately summoned the officials of the three judicial offices into the palace, and the candlelight burned for half the night.

The northern army had returned from the frontier. The Emperor had issued a general amnesty. A military pay case that had been on the verge of settling down was thrown into turmoil by the attack on Vice Minister Shen, sending waves crashing in every direction that no one had anticipated. First, several chief examiners responsible for the imperial examinations came under investigation. Then irregularities were uncovered at the capital garrison. In an instant, the number of officials caught up in the fallout was beyond counting.

The powerful noble families and the literati faction turned on each other, each scrambling to distance themselves from any responsibility.

At court, the Emperor sat at the high seat and swept his gaze across the civil and military officials with eyes full of cold fury. He flung the memorial tablets down. “A single military pay case, and it has given rise to the attempted murder of a court official, the bribery of officials within the court, and misconduct within the capital garrison. How many more things are there that I do not know about?”

At those words, every official prostrated themselves and said nothing.

The Emperor’s gaze was severe. He swept it across the assembled officials and finally let it rest on the military officers at the front. The frontier could not go unguarded for a single day. The Qi family army would set out for the northern frontier imminently, and the military pay case directly concerned the frontier soldiers. If it went unresolved, it would be impossible to restore morale.

He passed over Qi Shen and let his gaze settle on Qi Hanzhou. “Qi Hanzhou.”

The young man of fourteen or fifteen had already grown into his full frame. He stood at court alongside his father without the slightest sign of unease.

He looked up at the sound of his name. “This subject is present.”

The Emperor said, “This case will be handled primarily by the Court of Judicial Review, with the Embroidered Guard in support. You will serve as overseer. Investigate this matter thoroughly and bring me a clear answer.”

When he finished speaking, every eye in the hall turned to Qi Hanzhou.

The Qi family was the person the Emperor trusted most. With the frontier at stake and a Qi family member overseeing the investigation, this matter could not be allowed to end quietly.

The Emperor waved his hand and dismissed the court. The officials filed out of the hall.

The Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review stopped Qi Hanzhou outside the hall. “Young General, a moment. How should we proceed with this matter?”

“Keep a strict watch on the two suspects, and conduct a thorough investigation into the Ministry of War’s account books from recent years,” Qi Hanzhou said.

The Chief Justice’s expression tightened. Before he could ask anything further, Qi Hanzhou had already turned and walked away.

A colleague drew close, seeing the Chief Justice hesitate and slow his steps. “Minister Liu, this case is not going to be easy to handle.”

The Chief Justice was already developing a headache. He quickly turned to his colleague.

“This case implicates a number of officials. Minister Liu would do well to tread carefully, especially where Young General Qi is concerned. Do not give him any cause for displeasure.” The colleague speaking glanced toward Qi Hanzhou, who had already walked far ahead. “The Qi family army’s return to the northern frontier is imminent. His Majesty’s move here… I suspect he intends to keep that one in the capital.”

Outside the palace gates, Qi Hanzhou came to a stop. His deputy came hurrying over and handed him a sealed letter. “As the Young General instructed: the assailant and the scholar involved in this case had no connection to each other in their ordinary lives, yet the person who hired the assassin happened to choose precisely these two. The assailant frequents the capital’s lavish taverns and has served wine to several powerful nobles in the city. The scholar, meanwhile, haunts the teahouses, which are gathering places for the literati faction. If we are talking about the buying and selling of official positions, that connection holds up.”

“The person who truly hired the assassin knows the workings of the powerful elite, and also knows there is an undercurrent of official position trading within the court.” Qi Hanzhou folded the sealed letter, his gaze drifting to the palace walls. “He simply went with the current and stirred up this pool of muddy water.”

The deputy paused at that. “Then the runaway horse at the training grounds, was that also his doing?”

“Not necessarily. The methods are different.” Qi Hanzhou furrowed his brow. “The evidence against Vice Minister Shen is hard to find. The scholar and the assailant are of no real value, and that is not what my father and I are concerned about. Nor is it what His Majesty has in mind.”

The deputy hesitated, growing more unsettled the more he thought about it. “Young General, you are thinking…”

Qi Hanzhou swung up onto his horse, his gaze falling on the streets of the capital in the distance. “Tell me. The military funds the Qi family has searched everywhere for. Where do you suppose they are?”

* * *

Everyone at court was on edge, while the inner palace was utterly still.

Shen Yunfei did not come to the palace to see Ying Fusheng until three days later. When he arrived, Ying Fusheng was drinking his medicine. The remedies prescribed by Physician Chu had become a fixture of Ying Fusheng’s daily routine. His complexion, after the careful attention of recent weeks, had finally lost some of its former pallor and carried a little more life.

Thinking of what his father had told him, and looking at the young, frail prince before him, Shen Yunfei did not dare show even a trace of disrespect. After the palace attendants were dismissed, he bent his knees and moved to kneel, but was stopped by Song’an at his side. Song’an immediately helped him back up. “Young Master Shen.”

“Thank you, Your Highness, for saving the Shen family!” Shen Yunfei said, each word carrying the full weight of his sincerity.

Ying Fusheng saw that his color had improved and set down the medicine bowl. “It was Vice Minister Shen who went to the palace and pleaded his case before the Emperor. That is what gave the Shen family a fighting chance.”

Shen Yunfei clenched his jaw. But if his father had not been injured, if the assassination had not stirred up such a storm, the Emperor would never have granted his father an audience.

He did not know what was written in that letter. He only knew that it was the Sixth Prince’s intervention that had given the Shen family room to breathe. Of that there was no doubt.

“You came into the palace, and many eyes are watching.” Ying Fusheng looked at him. “On the surface, we are nothing more than prince and study companion.”

Song’an said, “Young Master Shen, please rise.”

Shen Yunfei hesitated, but in the end stood.

On the writing table sat the Four Books and the Five Classics, sent by the Empress Dowager for Ying Fusheng’s studies.

Ying Fusheng opened a book. “The Qi family is watching you.”

Shen Yunfei startled. Ever since his father’s incident, the garrison soldiers outside had been replaced by the Qi family’s men, and the Emperor had appointed Young General Qi as overseer. “How does Your Highness know?”

The military pay case had wide implications. Drawing on details from his previous life, Ying Fusheng had pieced together that Vice Minister Shen was without question a casualty of factional infighting. In his previous life, it had taken Shen Yunfei and the Qi family years to overturn the verdict, and the long passage of time had caused evidence to erode. But this was the moment the military pay case had just broken open. Certain pieces of evidence were things those people did not dare destroy yet, all of them waiting for the Shen family to be convicted so they could slip away undetected.

His imperial father was keeping the Shen family alive and had given Shen Yunfei the chance to enter the palace, for no other reason than to find the whereabouts of those missing funds and root out the true rot within.

To have risen to the position of vice minister amid the struggle between the powerful noble families and the literati faction, Vice Minister Shen Changcun was no fool. Otherwise, where would Shen Yunfei have gotten the leads in his previous life to pursue the Crown Prince’s faction so relentlessly? Who had been desperate to distance themselves at this moment, who had dealings with Vice Minister Shen in connection with the military pay case, these were things only the Shen family could work out. The reason the military pay case had been so difficult to investigate in that previous life was, first, that too much time had passed, and second, the tangled complexity of it all, compounded by Vice Minister Shen’s death. Now the timing was right, and Vice Minister Shen Changcun was under the Qi family’s protection. Why should it not be possible to investigate?

“The Qi family are men of integrity. If anyone hates the mastermind behind the military pay case more than your Shen family, it is the Qi family army on the northern frontier.” Ying Fusheng turned the pages of his book. The sandalwood incense on the table drifted in quiet wisps, and he continued with unhurried composure. “Vice Minister Shen’s audience with the Emperor was the first step. The Qi family’s oversight is the second step. To truly break free, a third step is needed.”

“Evidence of the Shen family’s innocence.”

Shen Yunfei gave a bitter smile. “If we had evidence, we would not have been unable to defend ourselves…”

“Who said anything about evidence from the Shen family? It is not the Shen family conducting the investigation. It is the Court of Judicial Review and the Qi family. It is the imperial house.”

Ying Fusheng looked up at Shen Yunfei, the brilliance of his future not yet visible on his face. “Someone wanted to destroy your Shen family. If I were them, I would have cleared away all the evidence long ago. If they chose the Shen family as a scapegoat, they would never give you a chance to turn the tables. But evidence can also take the form of stolen goods.”

Shen Yunfei’s mind reeled. “You mean the whereabouts of the military funds? But His Majesty has had people searching for so long…”

The prince sat in perfect stillness, as though the storms raging at court had nothing to do with him. But Shen Yunfei understood very clearly that everything had begun with something as simple as a hired assassination.

Yet that one act had set the capital’s factions in motion, and given the Shen family room to breathe in the process. The reason the military pay case had erupted in the first place was that this batch of funds had been swapped out and replaced, delaying military operations. The Shen family truly had no evidence to prove their innocence, but finding the military funds would be a different matter entirely. A sum that large could not be moved and exchanged freely by whoever was hiding it. Once it was found, it would lead straight to the true culprit.

Shen Yunfei immediately grasped the logic, and also understood why his father had rushed to seek an audience with the Emperor that night.

“The runaway horse at the training grounds a few days ago. Young Master Shen is skilled with horses. Do you truly think it was an accident?” Ying Fusheng said.

Shen Yunfei stared at him. “You mean…”

Ying Fusheng did not answer. With a calm expression, he poured tea for Shen Yunfei and pushed the cup toward him. The military pay case was difficult to investigate because the funds had seemingly vanished, disappearing completely during transport. The Qi family had searched rigorously along the entire route and found no trace of them. “The military funds were escorted out of the capital, and before they reached the northern frontier, they were replaced with a mixture of gravel, inferior grain, and chaff. They appeared to have vanished into thin air.”

“But what if those funds never left the capital?”

Ying Fusheng’s words carried a pointed implication. “I hear that the Court of the Imperial Stud, under Vice Minister Shen’s jurisdiction, oversees horse administration.”

“Then your Shen family needs to start a fire.”

* * *

Deep in the night, the capital garrison outside the city was changing shifts.

A shadowy figure slipped out of the garrison grounds in the gap between rotations, moved through the southern streets with practiced ease, and finally pushed open the door of a teahouse. The Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud sat in restless agitation, glancing repeatedly toward the door. When he saw who had come in, he shot to his feet, barely concealing his anxiety. “Why are you here? The Qi family has been tightening security lately. They are already looking into the Ministry of War’s old account books. If the books we doctored are discovered…”

“I am here to relay our teacher’s orders. Please calm yourself, Vice Director.” The figure in black said, “The capital is not safe. We need to find a way to move our goods to another location.”

The Vice Director’s expression shifted. “There is so much of it. How do we move it?”

“If we cannot move it, then it must be destroyed.” The figure in black said, “Our teacher implies that the Qi family must not find a single trace.”

The Vice Director slumped back at those words. “We have hidden it for so long. Do we truly have to destroy it?”

“His Majesty intends to protect Shen Changcun, and the Qi family is a sharp blade. This is not the time for confrontation.” As the figure in black spoke, a layer of unspoken meaning crept into his eyes. “Someone at court will handle things on your behalf. You have three days at most. Find a way to deal with it. As for your family, someone will take care of them.”

With that, he left a sealed order on the table, turned, and walked out.

The Vice Director sank into his seat. The attendant at his side watched the figure in black disappear into the distance and quickly steadied his master. “My lord.”

“A sealed letter has arrived from the palace. It is from the Eastern Palace.” The attendant produced a jade pendant.

The Vice Director jolted at the mention of the Eastern Palace. “His Highness the Crown Prince…?”

He unfolded the sealed letter and read it, growing more alarmed with every line. The attack on the Shen family and the runaway horse at the training grounds had already drawn indirect inquiries in recent days. The Court of the Imperial Stud oversaw horse administration, and on that day he had followed the Crown Prince’s private orders to arrange the horses for the training grounds examination. Multiple layers of handling had been involved, and while the trail had been cleaned up, if anyone fixed their attention on the Court of the Imperial Stud, it would be difficult to contain. The man responsible that day had already been dismissed and sent home, but with so many precautions, one gap was all it took. If the Embroidered Guard traced anything back to the Court of the Imperial Stud, the consequences would be severe.

That other official still did not know about this. He had to deal with the aftermath quickly. “Go. To the stables!”

The Court of the Imperial Stud maintained dedicated stables scattered throughout the capital region.

The Vice Director had barely stepped out of the teahouse when he heard something and looked up. In the distance, thick smoke was rising. His face went white with horror.

Deep in the night, the Qi family army from the capital garrison encircled the Court of the Imperial Stud almost instantly, jolting the administrators awake in the middle of the night. The Embroidered Guard moved in the shadows, and in less than an hour had surrounded the Vice Director’s residence. Qi Hanzhou walked with the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review behind him, the latter’s face nearly drained of color, as the Embroidered Guard entered and conducted a full search. The Vice Director and the other officials were all detained. Some attempted to flee in the night and were intercepted. Qi Hanzhou handed everything remaining to the Embroidered Guard. “Where is the Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud?”

“Not at the residence,” came the report.

Qi Hanzhou furrowed his brow and immediately thought of something. “Go and check all the Court of the Imperial Stud’s locations throughout the capital region…”

“This is bad! Young General!”

A cavalry soldier came galloping over from the distance. “The stables in the capital region are on fire!”

A flicker of surprise crossed Qi Hanzhou’s eyes. He pulled on the reins and ordered his men to go fight the fire.

The deputy had the Court of the Imperial Stud’s people under control. They had been operating covertly tonight and had not yet let word slip, yet the moment they secured the Court of the Imperial Stud, a fire broke out right on their heels. It was far too convenient. “You openly told the Chief Justice to investigate the Ministry of War’s account books. Tonight the Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud goes missing, and the stables in the capital region catch fire. Someone is watching us.”

Qi Hanzhou pulled on the reins. “This fire was not set by their people. If they wanted to burn something, they would burn the Ministry of War’s treasury.”

Burning the treasury would destroy all the evidence and make the account books impossible to trace. Burning an unrelated stable would only draw attention to the Ministry of War and the Court of the Imperial Stud.

“Then this is…” The deputy was startled.

Qi Hanzhou spurred his horse toward the outskirts of the capital. “Someone got there first.”

In the night, multiple garrison posts throughout the capital region were thrown into alarm. The stables under the Court of the Imperial Stud across the capital region caught fire, the blaze spreading with terrifying speed. The Imperial Guard and the Qi family army moved almost simultaneously. The glow of the fire lit up the distant sky above the capital. Fortunately, it was discovered in time and brought under control before the stable fire could spread to the surrounding area.

The commotion shook the imperial city. The Embroidered Guard entered the palace in the middle of the night to report, and the lights of the Qianqing Palace came on.

When Song’an attended to Ying Fusheng that morning, he noticed that His Highness seemed to be in somewhat better spirits than usual. He had taken his morning medicine early without being reminded.

When master and attendant arrived at the Wenhua Hall, the other students were already there. Shen Yunfei sat in his place, his mind clearly elsewhere, and only rose to bow when he saw Ying Fusheng arrive.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”

Ying Fusheng looked up and saw the Crown Prince walk in from outside the hall.

As he entered, his gaze paused on Shen Yunfei, then shifted and landed heavily on Ying Fusheng.

Ying Fusheng showed no sign of noticing the hostility in the Crown Prince’s eyes and greeted him with proper courtesy. “My respects, Elder Brother.”

The Crown Prince turned and walked away without a word, abandoning even the pretense of his usual warmth. Quite a few people clustered around the Crown Prince. Ying Fusheng rarely came to the Wenhua Hall to study, and had only been attending more regularly lately as his health improved. Everyone present understood the difference between the heir apparent and a prince, and seeing the Crown Prince direct open hostility at Ying Fusheng, they all kept their distance.

The Seventh Prince, however, moved a little closer to Ying Fusheng. He still remembered the incident at the training grounds and had developed a warmer impression of this Sixth Elder Brother, who had always seemed so withdrawn.

The whispers in the hall did not quiet until the Imperial Tutor arrived, but today the Wenhua Hall was clearly not going to be like any ordinary day.

Barely two hours into their studies, Eunuch Rong, the Emperor’s personal attendant, came in person to summon the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince.

The Emperor rarely came to the Wenhua Hall to examine the princes’ studies. His visit this time was clearly deliberate. The Crown Prince thought back over his recent coursework, then looked at Ying Fusheng walking alongside him, and a shadow deepened in his eyes. If the training grounds incident had gone as planned, Shen Yunfei would never have become a study companion and would never have entered the palace. Now the Shen family’s case had taken a turn. If the Shen family had truly been wrongly accused, then he had lost Shen Yunfei for nothing.

In the rear hall of the Wenhua Hall, the Emperor sat at the high seat with the Imperial Tutor beside him.

When the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince arrived, the Imperial Tutor rose and excused himself.

“Sixth, has your health been better lately?” the Emperor asked.

Ying Fusheng said, “Thank you for your concern, Imperial Father. Much better.”

The Emperor gave a slight nod. When he looked toward the Crown Prince, his expression cooled somewhat. “How have the Crown Prince’s studies been lately?”

“In reply to Imperial Father, this son has not dared neglect his work. The coursework the Imperial Tutor assigned was completed two days ahead of schedule.” The Crown Prince spoke at measured length, laying out what he had read and learned in recent days.

The Emperor’s expression did not change. He waited until the Crown Prince finished before saying, “And?”

The Crown Prince started. He saw a measure of coolness in his imperial father’s expression.

The shift unsettled him somewhat. His studies had given him no cause for concern, and the Imperial Tutor had praised him.

The Crown Prince could only say, “This son has also been busy with his studies and has written two essays.”

“Only busy with your studies?” the Emperor said, his voice dropping.

The Crown Prince did not understand. The next moment, the Emperor threw down a jade pendant. It hit the floor with a crack.

Ying Fusheng’s gaze shifted slightly and came to rest on the jade pendant, now bearing a fracture. He raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

The moment the jade pendant appeared, the Crown Prince’s face went completely white.

The Emperor’s expression had already turned to open anger. “Then how do you explain your jade pendant?”