Night fell on the western ward of the city.
The night watch drum had sounded three times, and even the stray dogs had vanished from the alleys. The curfew in Zhenbei City was extremely strict. When the armored guards on night patrol passed by the alley entrance, the clashing sound of their iron armor plates could be heard half a street away.
Inside the small courtyard, several large lamps were lit in the main hall.
The autumn examination.
Xu Qinghuan leaned back in her chair, staring at the crackling wick of the oil lamp, turning the situation in the capital over and over in her mind.
Her father had taken charge of the money and grain dispatch. This was a very steady move, but the eldest prince's veiled sarcasm in the royal court indicated that the Xu family had been targeted.
In the shadows on the left side of the main hall, Xu Zhan sat leaning against the wall, his single arm hanging by his side, hidden in the darkness, his breathing so light it was inaudible.
Suddenly, a series of very faint footsteps came from outside the courtyard.
The footsteps were unhurried, stopping in front of the black lacquered wooden door. Then, the brass door knocker was struck—three short, two long, with a very long interval between the last two.
Xu Zhan's eyes snapped open, looking toward the courtyard door.
The atmosphere in the main hall instantly turned cold.
"Open the door, Second Brother."
Xu Qinghuan's voice rang out.
Hearing this, Xu Zhan asked no more questions. He picked up his mace, turned around, and strode toward the courtyard door.
The latch was pulled back.
The black lacquered wooden door was pulled inward to create a narrow slit. Xu Zhan's body blocked the doorway, his half-mace held horizontally at his waist, the head of the mace pointing directly at the chest of the person outside.
A single person stood outside the door.
This person was dressed in the gray cloth merchant robes common in the Great Qian Dynasty, wearing a felt hat and cloth boots, dressed no differently from the peddlers who roamed the streets and alleys of Zhenbei City. But this person's back was ramrod straight, his large-knuckled hands folded in front of him, with a thick layer of calluses at the purlicue—the marks left by years of holding a sword or reins.
Huyan Chi.
He raised his head, meeting Xu Zhan's gaze.
In that instant, Huyan Chi's feet felt heavy. He had seen the grey wolves on the grasslands, and the murderous executioners in the royal court, but he had never felt the oppressive presence of the man before him.
Huyan Chi's Adam's apple bobbed, and he forcefully suppressed the instinct to step back half a pace.
He forced a smile and spoke in fluent Great Qian Mandarin: "I am here on orders to seek an audience with the Imperial Envoy. I apologize for the intrusion and hope Your Excellency will be accommodating."
Xu Qinghuan's voice came from behind: "Let him in."
Only then did Xu Zhan step aside half a pace, leaving a gap barely wide enough for a person to pass through.
As Huyan Chi squeezed sideways through the gap, his shoulder brushed against the mace, the cold sensation spreading from his shoulder blade throughout his entire body.
He walked straight across the courtyard and into the main hall.
The lights in the hall were unusually bright.
Xu Qinghuan sat upright behind the desk, several old border market records spread out before her. She was not wearing her official uniform, but a plain casual outfit, her hair tied up with a wooden hairpin.
The light from the oil lamp shone on Xu Qinghuan's face, her features clearly defined, her expression calm, supremely elegant.
Huyan Chi stopped three paces in front of the desk.
Huyan Chi clasped his hands in front of him, bowed deeply, and performed a perfectly proper Great Qian Confucian scholar's bow.
The angle was precise, the posture upright, even more standard than the imperial students in the capital's Imperial Academy.
This person was not simple.
He straightened up, took an object from his sleeve, held it up with both hands, and presented it to the desk.
A golden wolf's head medallion.
The size of a palm, the front cast with a roaring wolf's head, the back engraved with the unique inscription of the Helian Royal Court. The gold was very pure, gleaming with a dull luster in the lamplight.
Xu Qinghuan's gaze swept over the gold medallion, then moved away, picking up a silver hairpin to poke the lamp wick.
"Speak."
Huyan Chi placed the gold medallion on the corner of the desk, stepped back half a pace, and bowed his hands, saying: "Lord Xu! My prince says that in the battle of Yehu Beach, the Imperial Envoy displayed great martial prowess, killing that rat Helian Wu, removing a thorn in my prince's side. The prince will remember this favor."
Xu Qinghuan did not reply, the silver hairpin fiddling with the lamp wick, the flame flickering.
Seeing her lack of response, Huyan Chi was not anxious, continuing: "My prince's meaning is, the northern trade route, harmony brings wealth. The Imperial Envoy has good goods in hand, and the prince has pastures and cattle and sheep."
"The two sides partner up for this business, the income split seventy-thirty. You take seventy percent, and the prince only takes thirty."
After saying this, Huyan Chi fixed his gaze on Xu Qinghuan's face, trying to catch any trace of fluctuation in her eyes or the corners of her mouth.
Seventy-thirty.
You take seventy percent.
This number was enough to buy half a street in Zhenbei City.
Xu Qinghuan's silver hairpin paused on the lamp wick for a moment, and then she continued to look at the booklet.
Huyan Chi waited for five breaths, then another five breaths. The face opposite him remained completely unperturbed, showing neither pleasant surprise, nor wariness, nor the hypocritical reserved refusal he had anticipated.
Just complete disinterest.
Huyan Chi's back began to sweat. He had seen countless shrewd merchants and greedy nobles in the royal court, but he had never seen anyone remain so unmoved in the face of such massive profit. He rapidly adjusted his rhetoric in his mind, changing direction.
"Your Excellency's performance on the drill ground today has already been heard of in the city." He changed the subject, his tone carrying a bit more genuine flattery. "One hundred thousand taels of silver, five thousand shi of grain and fodder, the Deputy General and the Imperial Censor, the two lords, even if they have to go bankrupt, must offer it up..."
He bowed with his hands clasped: "Your Excellency's methods are something Huyan Chi has never seen in his life. The civil and military officials up and down Zhenbei City, to be able to make local tyrants like Imperial Censor Ma and Deputy General He willingly empty their pockets and still have to smile apologetically in public, looking at the entire northern border, I'm afraid there is only Your Excellency."
Xu Qinghuan's silver hairpin finally stopped.
She raised her eyelids and looked at Huyan Chi.
Huyan Chi's heart tightened, thinking there was a chance, and hurriedly added: "The prince said, only the one who can subdue Zhenbei City is fit to be the friend of Ashina Gudu."
Xu Qinghuan chuckled.
"He Minghu and Ma Jin'an?"
Xu Qinghuan put down the silver hairpin, placed the teacup in her hand back on the desk, her tone casual.
"Just two obedient dogs. If they are handy, I use them; if not, there are plenty of others in Zhenbei City who want to bite for this official."
Huyan Chi's pupils shrank.
He considered himself well-read in the Great Qian classics and well-versed in the convoluted ways of Han officialdom, but this tone of referring to a third-rank Deputy General and an Inspecting Censor directly as dogs, in his understanding, only those powerful ministers holding the imperial mandate in the capital would dare to have.
This female Imperial Envoy had truly already grasped Zhenbei City in the palm of her hand?!
Huyan Chi was instantly shocked and delighted, deciding to show his trump card. He reached into his robe and took out a roll of sheepskin stationery from a close-fitting inner pocket.
The stationery was sealed with the unique red clay of the Helian Royal Court, the seal pressed with a complete wolf pattern signet.
"Your Excellency, this is my prince's personal letter." Huyan Chi held up the stationery with both hands, leaning forward slightly. "In black and white, the terms of the alliance are all within. As long as Your Excellency reads and signs it, the two families will henceforth supply each other's needs. Your Excellency's business in the northern border will be escorted by my right division's thirty thousand iron cavalry..."
Before he finished speaking.
A heavy metallic sound rang in his ear.
Xu Zhan had somehow circled to his side, his single mace thrust out horizontally, the body of the mace blocking between Huyan Chi's hands and Xu Qinghuan, exactly blocking the roll of sheepskin stationery that was being offered.
Huyan Chi's hands were forcefully pushed back.
Huyan Chi froze.
Xu Qinghuan's voice changed.
The laziness and casualness from earlier vanished completely, her gaze cold and stern.
"Huyan Chi, you have done business for your prince for so many years, yet you do not even understand this basic rule?"
Huyan Chi: "What does Your Excellency mean by this?"
"As the Imperial Envoy of Great Qian, holding the Emperor's Sword, I tour and inspect on behalf of the Son of Heaven." Xu Qinghuan reached out and tapped the Emperor's Sword that had remained placed horizontally on the desk. "If I were to accept a secret letter from the barbarian Royal Court and sign some alliance treaty, what crime do you think I would be charged with once this matter reaches the capital?"
A chill ran down Huyan Chi's spine.
"Colluding with the enemy and treason."
"Death by a thousand cuts, and the extermination of nine generations."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Huyan Chi quickly tucked the parchment letter back into his robes, fine beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
He recalled the instructions Ashina Gudu had given him. The prince had made it clear: sending a letter and making a treaty in black and white was the only way to set both sides at ease.
But the person before him had seen through the secondary motive of this letter at a single glance.
With it written in black and white, the only one at ease would be the Royal Court.
Because once signed, this letter would become a fatal weakness to be used against her.
"Your Excellency..." Huyan Chi's voice grew somewhat hoarse. "Since we are not drawing up a written agreement, then this business..."
"Huyan Chi," Xu Qinghuan interrupted him, leaning back in her chair, her tone returning to its previous relaxed state. "If your prince wishes to do business, I will not stand in his way. But the rules must be set by me."
Huyan Chi cupped his hands in a salute. "Please instruct me, Your Excellency."
"The trade routes will open as usual. Whatever cattle, sheep, and horses your prince wishes to trade, I have the goods to exchange. But..."
Xu Qinghuan paused for a moment, her gaze passing through the flame of the oil lamp to meet Huyan Chi's eyes.
"The ones who will step forward to conduct the handovers with the Royal Court will not be me."
Huyan Chi was taken aback. "Then it will be..."
"He Minghu and Ma Jin'an." Xu Qinghuan picked up her teacup and blew away the floating foam. "Making contact, signing contracts, and escorting the goods, all these matters will be handled through the deputy general's office."
"I am an Imperial Envoy dispatched by the Great Qian imperial court to oversee the border affairs of the Northern Frontier, not a common peddler."
"I am only responsible for supervision, ensuring that the trade routes remain peaceful and the rules are kept in order. As for the specific dirty and exhausting work, that is an errand local officials should worry about."
Huyan Chi was completely stunned.
After a few breaths, he finally came to his senses.
This woman was going to make He Minghu and Ma Jin'an act as the frontmen. If anything went wrong on the trade routes, the charge of colluding with the enemy would fall upon the deputy general's office, leaving her hands as the Imperial Envoy perfectly clean. Yet the true silver and gold from the trade routes would ultimately flow into her pockets, layer by layer, according to the seventy-thirty split she had established.
Acting as the mastermind behind the scenes, bearing minimal risk.
Huyan Chi had previously seen countless cunning merchants and fierce generals at the Royal Court, but they were either greedy for money with no regard for their lives, or too afraid of death to dare do anything. Someone like Xu Qinghuan, who wanted to take the lion's share while letting others take the blame for her, was a figure he had only ever read about in history books.
"Your Excellency is brilliant." Huyan Chi bowed deeply, this time truly convinced.
He straightened up, unfastened a thumb-sized silver wolf clasp from his waist, and presented it with both hands. "This item is a token bestowed upon me by my prince. Today, I pass it on to Your Excellency. In the future, the Royal Court's merchant caravans will recognize people by this token, so there will be no need to go through other channels."
Xu Qinghuan did not reach out to take it. She merely tilted her head toward Xu Zhan. Xu Zhan stepped forward, used the tip of his mace to pick up the silver clasp, examined it for a moment, and then tucked it into his robes.
Seeing this, Huyan Chi did not linger any longer. He took two steps back, bowed once more, turned around, and strode toward the courtyard gate.
His footsteps crossed the courtyard, passed through the narrow alley, and disappeared into the night of North Suppressing City.
The main hall returned to silence.
Xu Zhan closed the courtyard gate, returned to the hall, and placed the silver wolf clasp on the corner of the desk.
"Little sister, the words of this Helian... how much of them are true?"
Xu Qinghuan picked up the silver clasp, turned it over a couple of times, and set it down.
"Ashina Gudu is a smart man. The terms he offered are real, and his desire to find leverage against us is also real."
