The main hall of the deputy general's manor.
Eight rosewood boxes were lined up in a row, resting on the six-foot-long long table in the hall.
He Minghu strode up to the long table, grabbed the silk ribbons binding his armor with both hands, and threw them down with force. The armor plates fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of floating dust.
On the armchair to the right, Ma Jin'an sat with his long legs crossed, sitting boldly and imposingly, holding a gold-painted folding fan in his hand, the fan bones tapping his palm one after another.
"General He, first clear out the irrelevant people at the door."
He Minghu didn't even turn his head, and bellowed out the door: "All of you, roll far away! Within three zhang, if half a shadow dares to stay, you will be dealt with according to military law!"
The footsteps of the personal guards outside the door quickly retreated.
He Minghu rubbed the sweat from his palms hard on his lapel, then rubbed them twice more, before stretching out his hands, moving gently to lift the seal on the first wooden box.
That pair of hands that killed people and chopped horses was actually trembling a little at this moment.
The seal was removed, and the clasp was flicked open.
That glazed wolf sculpture lay quietly in the dark purple velvet lining. The sunlight penetrated through the gap in the curtain and just fell on the back of the wolf sculpture. It was completely translucent, and its brilliance flowed.
He bent over, reached his two rough hands into the box, gathered his ten fingers into a semicircle, and held the wolf sculpture out with an unfamiliar posture.
The movement was gentle, for fear that slightly more force would break it.
At that time at the North Gate, the situation was tight, and he didn't have time to play with it properly.
And at this moment, after calming down, he felt that it was extremely precious.
The surface of the glaze was smooth, and when the pads of his fingers touched it, there were actually no burrs or seams at all. He raised the wolf sculpture to his eyes and turned it slightly. The patterns on the wolf's body flowed in the light, and he could actually vaguely see his own face reflected on the wolf's belly.
"Ancestors..."
A sigh of amazement popped out of He Minghu's mouth, and his expression was both cherishing and fearful.
"This... what exactly is this thing?" He looked at it over and over again, and his voice was cracked, "Completely transparent, without seams, not even a bubble... Lord Ma, you have studied, you tell me, is there such a thing in the world?"
Ma Jin'an didn't get up.
He sat securely on the armchair, his gaze never leaving that wolf sculpture for a moment. The frequency of the folding fan in his hand tapping his palm changed from one tap per breath just now to three taps per breath.
He knew he was losing his composure, but he simply couldn't restrain himself.
"Put it down." Ma Jin'an's voice was half a pitch higher than usual. He also heard it himself, paused for a breath, and then suppressed his tone back, "Open the other boxes first."
He Minghu woke up as if from a dream, reluctantly put the wolf sculpture back in the box, and then opened the second and third wooden boxes in turn.
A pair of glazed wine cups, thin as cicada wings, the palm prints could be seen against the light.
A glazed purifying vase, the bottle body carved with intertwined lotus patterns, transparent enough to see the bottom of the bottle clearly.
In the fourth box, was that jar of strong wine sealed with mud and fixed with wax. He Minghu twisted open the wax seal, and before he could get close, an unparalleled strong smell of wine rushed into his nasal cavity, choking him so much that he sneezed fiercely.
"What strong wine!" He Minghu wiped his nose, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, "It's even stronger than Xifeng Old Cellar!"
He couldn't help taking a gulp.
The liquor entered his throat, He Minghu's body paused, the burning sensation smashed all the way from his throat to the bottom of his stomach, and then surged up, turning into a wave of heat, rushing to his forehead, making him sweat and his ears hot.
But immediately following, a wisp of long and mellow sweetness slowly rose from the depths of the root of his tongue.
He Minghu hissed, his eye sockets turning red.
"Nectar of the gods... truly nectar of the gods!" His voice was hoarse, his face full of disbelief, "I've drunk Shaodaozi and kumis at the border for twenty years. Compared to this thing, they're all horse piss!"
The hand he held the wine jar with trembled slightly. He looked down and glimpsed the clear as water glazed bottle body, the greed in his eyes could no longer be suppressed, and his voice suddenly sank.
"Lord Ma."
Ma Jin'an looked at him.
He Minghu licked his lips with his tongue, put the wolf sculpture and the wine jar side by side at hand, the greedy light in his eyes could no longer be concealed.
"This wolf sculpture... and this jar of immortal wine... we two brothers split them, is it not too much?" He rubbed his hands, his voice pressed extremely low, "The remaining six boxes, all at the disposal of Your Excellency, Lao He absolutely has no second words."
Ma Jin'an's folding fan stopped.
He stared at He Minghu for a full three breaths, suddenly flipped his wrist, and slapped the folding fan heavily on the rosewood armrest with a "smack".
"Foolish!"
The smile on He Minghu's face froze.
Ma Jin'an stood up abruptly, forced his way to the long table in a few steps, and pointed a finger at the glazed wolf sculpture.
"General He, touch your conscience and tell me, have you ever seen such an object in your life?"
"...No."
"I, Ma, have read extensively, have I seen it?"
"No."
"Up and down Zhenbei City, from the Commander-in-Chief to the cooks who light the fires and cook, who has seen it?"
"An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth! Such divine objects that snatch the creation of heaven and earth, if left in your hands and mine, are the King of Hell's death warrants!"
He Minghu braced himself and said.
"Lord Ma, there's no need to speak so absolutely..."
Ma Jin'an's finger left the wolf sculpture, turned to knock on the desktop of the long table, and popped out word by word.
"Absolutely?" Ma Jin'an laughed out of extreme anger, took two steps back, and tucked his hands into his sleeves, "Use your brain! How did Xu Qinghuan lay her cards on the table under the North Gate? She said this batch of goods was a secret errand personally handled by the noblemen in the capital!"
He Minghu narrowed his eyes.
Ma Jin'an raised a finger.
"You and I detained the imperial envoy's goods today under the guise of 'inspecting according to the law'. After the inspection, either return the original items, or compile a register and report them. Either of these two paths stands to reason, but if you dare to pocket this divine object..."
"General He, Xu Qinghuan asks you for it, you say you lost it? She goes back to the capital and brings it up to the Emperor, you say you haven't seen it? The Holy One sends someone to investigate, where do you hide the wolf sculpture? Bury it in the backyard?"
He Minghu's face sank.
Ma Jin'an turned around, his back to him, staring at a map of the Northern Territory hanging on the wall, his tone returning to its usual unhurried pace.
"Furthermore... the noblemen in the capital she spoke of, could they be ordinary officials of the Six Ministries?"
He Minghu had nothing to say in reply.
Ma Jin'an turned his head, his gaze heavy.
"The origin of this batch of things is unknown, and their destination is unclear. If you embezzle it today, someone will make an issue of this matter tomorrow. At that time, Xu Qinghuan won't need to make a move, those people in the capital whom you can't afford to provoke will naturally take your life."
The hall was quiet for a long time.
"Then according to your meaning... how should this hot potato be handled?"
Ma Jin'an didn't answer immediately. He walked back to the armchair and sat down, the folding fan unfolded again, and slowly turned two circles in his palm.
"Inspect the goods first."
"Inspect what?"
"Inspect exactly how much this batch of things is worth, and how much grain it can be exchanged for." Jin'an's gaze crossed the edge of the fan, faintly staring at those eight wooden boxes, "More importantly, inspect the weight of this thing."
He raised his chin and motioned towards the door.
"Call in the most ruthless, most trustworthy people under you. Don't need many, three is enough."
He Minghu thought for a moment, got up and walked to the door.
"Zhang Tiezhu! Sun Liu! He Daniu! Roll in!"
Hurried footsteps echoed outside the door, and three burly personal guards filed into the room. These three were He Minghu's die-hard loyalists. Having fought their way from beyond the pass to the interior, and risen from lowly foot soldiers to personal guards, each of them had more than one life on their hands.
They had seen the dead, and they had seen gold and silver. Logically speaking, ordinary things could hardly make them change their expressions.
The three entered, dropped to one knee, and saluted in unison with cupped fists.
He Minghu did not say a word. He stepped aside, revealing a row of open wooden boxes on the long table behind him.
Zhang Tiezhu was the first to look up.
As soon as his gaze fell upon the glazed wolf sculpture, he froze.
Gasp—
Immediately after, Sun Liu and He Daniu also got a clear view of the scene on the table.
All six eyes of the three men went wide in unison. Three consecutive gasps echoed in the hall, one after another.
Zhang Tiezhu's mouth hung wide open, drool nearly dripping down. His gaze was firmly nailed to the pair of glazed wine cups, thin as cicada wings, unable to tear itself away.
He had been a ruffian soldier for twenty years, plundering gold buddhas from the Tartars and robbing jadeites from wealthy households. But all those vulgar items combined were not even fit to carry the shoes of this row of radiant, shimmering glazed artifacts!
He Minghu observed coldly, taking in the unsightly display of his three die-hard confidants, and waved his hand to dismiss them.
He slowly turned his head and looked at Ma Jin'an, who was sitting upright in the grand armchair.
Their eyes met in midair. No words were needed; the true weight and value of this batch of goods had already been proven plain and clear.
Three fierce border guards who licked blood from the edges of their blades and were accustomed to life and death, all acted like starving wolves seeing blood in front of this row of glazed artifacts. Their greed was completely exposed, as if they would even give up their lives for them.
If these items were placed in the border markets, presented before those incredibly wealthy and worldly Western merchants, what kind of mad, bloody storm would they stir up?
Smack!
Ma Jin'an snapped his folding fan shut, a sharp and brilliant light exploding in the depths of his eyes.
