When the blood-stained slip of paper slid out of the bamboo tube and landed in Xu Qinghuan's palm.
Xu Qinghuan tucked the paper into her sleeve and cupped her hands toward Tie Lanshan.
"Commander, the medicine and grain depot will be handled according to the protocol we just discussed. Keep the arsonist locked in the Commander's Office dungeon for now. Don't let him die."
Tie Lanshan nodded, his palm resting on the wooden military command box.
"Rest assured, Lord Xu. If the man dies in my manor, I will have the military judge pay with his life."
Xu Zhan lifted his single mace and followed by Xu Qinghuan's side.
Li Sheng still wanted to speak: "Miss, that paper..."
Xu Qinghuan gave him a look.
"We will look at it when we return to the manor."
Li Sheng swallowed his words, hugged the medicine and grain ledger, and turned to arrange for personal guards to escort them.
The North Alley of Zhenbei City was still busy in the night, with night patrolmen carrying water buckets to clear the fire scene.
Jenny Huang squatted at the base of the wall, dismantling the inverted-tooth concealed net, cursing as she worked.
"Burning the depot right on my turf? Do they really think a blacksmith only knows how to swing a hammer? If they come back next time, I'll leave them something that will take their legs off."
Lao Sun came up from the cellar entrance holding the symptom ledger, the hem of his clothes stained with mud. Seeing Xu Qinghuan about to leave, he hurried a couple of steps to catch up.
"My Lord, will the vegetable soup still be distributed tomorrow morning?"
"Distribute it as usual."
"And if someone in the camp starts shouting nonsense again?"
"First, record their names. Then, cut off their soup. If they cause a severe disturbance, hand them over to the military law office."
Hearing this, Lao Sun hugged the ledger in his hands even tighter.
"Understood. I will sleep at the cellar entrance tonight."
Xu Qinghuan didn't try to dissuade him, only leaving behind one sentence: "Don't sleep at the entrance, sleep inside the door."
Lao Sun froze for a moment, then slapped his forehead.
"Right, right. At the entrance, someone could knock me out with a stick, but inside the door, I can still guard the pots."
Xu Zhan couldn't hold back and let out a low chuckle.
When the group returned to the West City Ward, the sky was still dark.
The porter had already prepared hot water, and half a pot of millet porridge was left in the kitchen.
Xu Qinghuan didn't go to wash up; she went straight into the study.
The firelight shone on the desk, where the distribution list for Jiangning's dehydrated vegetables was pressed beside the inkstone.
Xu Qinghuan sat down at the desk, took the bamboo tube from her sleeve, and broke the seal.
Besides the blood-stained slip of paper, she also poured out a copy of a list folded into a narrow strip.
Xu Zhan stood in front of the desk, his single mace resting against his leg.
"Who sent this?"
"Someone from the Shuicheng Hall."
Xu Qinghuan spread out the list. The paper had been soaked in water, but the words remained.
Jianghuai Depot military grain: 8,000 shi. Reported loss: 12 percent. Profit share: 380 taels.
Huaisi Transport grain: 10,000 shi. Reported loss: 15 percent. Profit share: 620 taels.
A few lines down, the boat numbers, depot names, times, and loss ratios were all on the paper.
At the end, four words were circled in red cinnabar ink.
Chief Inspector, Shang Manor.
After reading those four words, Xu Zhan asked in confusion.
"Shang Manor?"
"Shang Qitai, the Minister of Revenue."
Xu Qinghuan pushed the copy of the list under the lamp to make the handwriting clearer.
Xu Zhan stared at the list, and only spoke after a long while.
"Over in the capital, has our eldest brother made his move?"
"He took over the Shuicheng Hall of the capital's waterways, detained the ships of the Guangyi Merchant Firm, and got hold of the ledger detailing the embezzlement of military grain through water transport."
Xu Zhan raised a hand and rubbed his neck.
"He acted like a reckless rogue in the capital, and he's still doing the same on the waterways. Block them first, suppress them with the rules, and if anyone disobeys, beat them into submission."
Xu Qinghuan picked up the blood-stained paper, which also contained a line of words Xu Wuyou had someone bring over.
The capital rats have exposed their tails, Shang Manor is collecting debts, Father can use this.
Xu Zhan looked at the words and read them softly. When he read "Father can use this," he let out a snort.
"Eldest brother sure knows how to talk. After causing trouble, he hands the knife over to Dad."
Xu Qinghuan picked up a fire starter and brought the paper close to the candle flame. The edge of the paper was caught by the tongue of fire and quickly curled into ash. She let go, dropping the paper into a copper basin.
As the paper ash fell, Xu Zhan frowned.
"Can a single waterway ledger bring down the Minister of Revenue? Shang Qitai controls the world's money and grain, and he has many disciples and former subordinates in the court. If he bites down and refuses to admit it, I'm afraid it will be difficult."
Xu Qinghuan picked up the copy of the list, folded it again, and pressed it into the wooden box on the desk.
"The original ledger has already been sent back to the Xu Manor. Father will use it to check the old accounts."
Xu Zhan turned to look at her.
"The Ministry of Revenue's old accounts?"
"The annual military grain allocations for Zhenbei City, the water transport division's transfer vouchers, the warehouse exit stamps, and the loss reports along the route."
"Looked at individually, anyone could explain them away as natural disasters, road damage, or rat consumption."
"But put them together, and it becomes impossible to hide which section had a shortage, which day the cargo was switched, and which sum of silver entered whose accounting room."
Xu Qinghuan continued.
"With this... Old Dad can probably get a promotion."
"What he wants isn't just to scold Shang Qitai a few times."
Xu Qinghuan pushed the copper basin aside, the paper ash baking into powder from the residual heat at the bottom of the basin.
"He wants to use this case to seize actual power in the Ministry of Revenue."
"Whether Shang Qitai falls or not can be set aside for now. The Ministry of Revenue's grain routes need a change of management, the water transport inspections need new regulations, and the Northern border's military grain must be dug out from the old accounts."
Xu Zhan tugged at his collar and sat on a round stool nearby, saying.
"Sounds more troublesome than hacking people down."
"Killing in the royal court is more often done without seeing blood."
"What about here at the Northern border? People from the capital's waterways came all the way here to burn the medicine and grain depot, which means someone in Zhenbei City is colluding with Shang Manor. He Minghu? Ma Jin'an? Or someone else in the Commander's Office?"
Xu Qinghuan didn't answer because she already had an answer in her heart.
An answer enough to plunge the Northern Border's Central Route Office into a place of absolute doom.
"Wait for the man in black to speak."
"And if he refuses to speak?"
"Su Mu has ways to make people speak, and so does Lao Sun."
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door, and Li Sheng poked his head in.
"Miss, the person who delivered the letter is heavily injured."
"I've already had the military doctor look at him. Two broken ribs and a knife wound on his back."
"But he's still holding on, saying he must wait for your reply."
Xu Qinghuan stood up, took a blank piece of stationery, and wrote four words.
Letter received, proceed accordingly.
She folded the paper and handed it to Li Sheng.
"Have him take it back. If he can't travel, let him nurse his wounds first and send another fast horse back to the capital."
Li Sheng took it and hesitated for a moment.
"Miss, just these four words?"
"It's enough."
Li Sheng grinned.
"The eldest young master will probably jump with anger when he sees this, saying he risked his life to deliver a major case, and you only reply with four words."
Xu Zhan chimed in from the side.
"Jumping with anger won't help him. He's been afraid of our little sister since childhood."
Li Sheng chuckled and ran out holding the paper.
The study returned to silence. Xu Qinghuan locked the ledger copy in the wooden box and hung the key back on her waist.
Seeing that she was about to flip through the ledgers again, Xu Zhan couldn't help but speak.
"It's almost dawn. Take a rest."
Xu Qinghuan raised a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose and turned to look out the window.
The storm lantern in the courtyard flickered a couple of times, casting shadows on the blue bricks. Only now did the Northern border's night begin to feel chilly.
"I'm waiting for one more person."
Xu Zhan was about to ask when hurried footsteps echoed outside the courtyard gate, accompanied by Li Sheng's lowered voice trying to dissuade someone.
"Valley Master Su, please slow down. The Miss hasn't slept all night, don't just barge in and..."
"I can't slow down, I can't! If we delay this, we'll suffer a huge loss."
Before Su Mu even entered the door, his voice pierced through.
The sky was turning pale as Su Mu rushed into the study carrying a wooden basin.
Three small cloth bags hung at his waist.
Li Sheng followed behind him, looking utterly exasperated.
"Miss, I tried to stop him, but he insisted it was a matter of life and death."
Su Mu slammed the wooden basin onto the desk. Soaked vegetable leaves floated inside it.
Beside it, he placed several small wooden tags with the words Cold Water, Warm Water, and Boiling Water written on them.
"Lord Xu, half a packet of vegetables. I took half a packet last night. Don't worry, I didn't waste it, I recorded everything."
He pulled out a piece of paper covered in writing from his sleeve and slapped it onto the desk.
"Soaked in cold water, it took an hour to open up; the leaves recovered slowly, and the weight increased by over four times. Soaked in warm water, it took twenty minutes; the leaves opened evenly, and the weight increased by seven times. Soaked in boiling water, it took shape in thirty breaths and was edible after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, with the weight increasing to around nine times."
Li Sheng's head ached just listening.
"Valley Master Su, could you please take it one sentence at a time?"
"No."
Su Mu fished out a few vegetable leaves, arranged them on a white porcelain dish, and used a small knife to slice open the stalks.
"Also, after soaking in boiling water, the broth turns light green and tastes like sweet vegetables."
"Sun-dried vegetables don't have this, and neither do pickled vegetables."
"The broth from sun-dried vegetables is bitter, and pickled vegetable broth is salty. Only this broth doesn't leave an astringent feeling on the tongue after drinking."
Hearing this, Xu Zhan raised an eyebrow.
"You even tasted the broth last night?"
Su Mu didn't even lift his head.
"How could I record it without tasting? A physician tastes things to identify their properties, isn't that perfectly normal?"
Li Sheng muttered from behind, "You soaked the entire half packet, that's also 'normal'."
Su Mu turned to glare at him.
"I haven't even settled the score with you yet. The cooks sealed that clay pot way too tightly."
"It took me ages to pry it open; I almost chipped my medicinal knife."
Xu Qinghuan took the record paper. It was densely packed with writing; even the weight after soaking was weighed and recorded three separate times.
"What are you trying to say?"
Su Mu stopped his work and finally pushed a few soaked vegetable leaves in front of Xu Qinghuan.
"There is definitely something invisible inside these leaves."
Li Sheng was taken aback.
"Going mystical again?"
"Mystical my foot."
Su Mu raised his hand and tapped the leaf veins, his speech speeding up again.
"When the wounded soldiers' gums bleed, Lao Sun says it's because their blood phase is unstable, their nutritive and defensive qi are deficient, and their body fluids are depleted."
"That makes sense according to medical theory."
"But sheep kidney fat can provide an emergency supplement, and green vegetable soup can also supplement it. The properties and tastes of the two are completely different, so why are they both effective?"
If Lao Sun were here, he would probably argue with him for half an hour.
Xu Qinghuan did not interrupt.
Su Mu continued.
"I tested it last night. The leaves were first blanched, then smoked, then baked. Logically speaking, the essence of the vegetation should have mostly dissipated."
"But after soaking them, the sick soldiers drank it, their gums stopped bleeding, and their night vision improved."
"This cannot be fully explained by ordinary qi and blood supplementation."
Xu Zhan was getting a bit annoyed listening, but he didn't leave.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Su Mu grabbed a vegetable leaf and slapped it directly onto the desk.
"There is an invisible substance hidden in these leaves."
"It doesn't break down when boiled in water, and it doesn't dissipate when baked by fire. When people eat this thing, their gums stop bleeding."
The study fell silent for a moment.
Li Sheng opened his mouth, then looked at Xu Qinghuan.
Su Mu, however, grew more animated as he spoke, tapping his fingers loudly on the table.
"Chinese medicine speaks of qi and blood, nutritive and defensive qi, and body fluids. It speaks of the spleen and stomach transforming and transporting, and liver blood nourishing the eyes."
"These can all match the symptoms, but I always feel like something is missing."
He held up another vegetable leaf to the lamp.
"Is it really the nutritive blood and body fluids that Chinese medicine talks about?"
"Or is there another microscopic substance in these leaves, invisible in daily life, that causes problems only when lacking, and once replenished, allows a person to live?"
