Dark clouds hung low over the Tongzhou river, pressing down heavily on the churning muddy waves.
The autumn wind, carrying the fishy scent of the river, blew straight into the Waterway Hall through the half-open window.
On the wharf outside, where porters for canal boats usually bustled about, not a single soul could be seen today.
News of the Shangshu Mansion being raided and confiscated by the Imperial City Guard had spread overnight across all thirty-six docks of the capital region.
When the tree falls, even the monkeys that once sheltered beneath it must tread carefully when they breathe.
Inside the main hall of the Waterway Hall, the emptiness brought a chill.
Xu Wuyou reclined half-lying in a tiger-skin armchair, his legs crossed and propped on the edge of the large rosewood desk.
In his hands, he held neither blade nor scroll, only an old abacus he idly fiddled with.
Click, clack.
The crisp sound of the beads clacking echoed through the quiet hall, one after another.
With each bead Xu Wuyou moved, he controlled the fates of hundreds, even thousands, of lives along the Tongzhou river.
With a bang, the heavy wooden door was shoved open from outside.
Pang Yu burst in, his head damp with river fog. His short work jacket, soaked through with cold sweat and river water, clung to his plump frame, rising and falling with his heavy, ragged breaths.
"Hall Master!"
Pang Yu scurried forward in three hurried strides to the desk, holding up a crumpled yellow-paper report with both hands: "The brothers keeping watch have sent word back! That bookish sourpuss Lu has been frantically visiting people everywhere! From last night until this morning, he’s practically worn down the doorstep of the Fragrant Water Hall!"
Xu Wuyou did not look up. He continued toying with the abacus idly.
Click.
One bead slid to the top. Half-raising his eyelids, he glanced at the yellow report and asked flatly: "Which households did he visit?"
"He went to the residence of Chen, the Fragrant Water Hall’s incense master, and then slipped in the dark to the private homes of a few stewards under the Silver Ledger Office."
Pang Yu wiped the water from his face, baring his teeth in disdain.
"That Lu usually puts on airs of innocence, always clutching a tattered book. Now that the Shangshu Mansion has fallen, he’s more anxious than anyone. Hall Master, shall I take a few brothers, waylay him on the road, stuff him in a sack, and sink him in the Tongzhou river?"
Xu Wuyou smiled.
The laugh was soft, but it made Pang Yu’s fat flinch involuntarily.
He had served this Hall Master long enough to know: the gentler his master smiled, the more ruthless he became when he struck.
"Sink him in the river? All your head can hold is fighting and killing—not even two ounces of sesame oil." Xu Wuyou stopped fiddling, leaned forward, and pulled a thin blue-covered booklet from his wide sleeve. He tossed it at Pang Yu’s face.
With a slap, the booklet slid down Pang Yu’s round face and was fumbled into his hands.
"Compare them yourself." Xu Wuyou leaned back into his chair, picked up a cup of tea that had gone cold, and skimmed the floating leaves. "Take a look at just what kind of monsters and fiends our Accountant Lu has been visiting these past few days."
Pang Yu swallowed hard, clumsily flipping open the blue booklet.
He wasn’t well-read, but he could recognize the names of the prominent figures in the Canal Guild. The booklet had been sent by swift horse from the Earl of Sincerity’s mansion the night before, densely packed with names and places, the ink still smelling of fresh pine soot.
Pang Yu widened his ox-like eyes, comparing the yellow report with the blue booklet, line by line, word for word.
At first, he only frowned. But as he read on, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his breathing quickened.
"Chen Danian... Zhao Laoliu... Wang Mazi..." he muttered vaguely. Then looking up at Xu Wuyou, he blurted out: "Good heavens! Hall Master! Every person Lu Wenzhao met according to this yellow report is listed in this blue booklet!"
He held the booklet with trembling hands: "And the names in this booklet... aren’t they all the spies that the Shangshu Mansion planted in our Tongji Canal Guild, the ones you mentioned to me a few days ago?!"
The Waterway Hall fell silent again, only the autumn wind howling outside the window.
Xu Wuyou set down his teacup, the ceramic clinking. He looked at Pang Yu’s terrified expression and sighed softly.
"When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. When the wall collapses, everyone pushes it down."
Xu Wuyou’s voice rolled through the empty hall.
"That old codger Shang Qitai sat in the position of Minister of Revenue for twelve years, turning this Tongji Canal Guild into his own private backyard."
"Now that the Imperial City Guard has thrown him in the dungeon, his entire family faces execution. These scattered spies within the guild have become masterless hounds."
Xu Wuyou stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the churning river outside, his expression cold.
"Lu Wenzhao is a clever man. He knows that with Shang Qitai’s fall, the Tongji Canal Guild is bound for chaos."
"That old bastard Lei Zhen, nominally the Guild Chief, has long been hollowed out by the Shangshu Mansion’s power."
"Now that the Shang family is finished, Lei Zhen will surely seize the chance to consolidate authority and purge Shang’s influence."
Xu Wuyou turned around, letting out a cold laugh.
"Lu Wenzhao wants to snatch up these scattered hounds before Lei Zhen can move, gather them under his own banner. With this force, he plans to bite back at Lei Zhen, completely sideline him, and make himself the little emperor of the Tongji Canal Guild!"
Pang Yu was stunned, his mind buzzing.
Though a rough man, he grasped the danger of it.
The Tongji Canal Guild was immense, controlling the lifeline of the waterways around the capital.
Lu Wenzhao usually kept a low profile, merely juggling numbers in the Silver Ledger Office. Who would have thought such ambition hid in that pedantic scholar’s belly?
"Then... what do we do?" Pang Yu stammered, wiping cold sweat. "If Lu Wenzhao really wins over all those spies, won’t our Waterway Hall have to kowtow to him too? How can that Lu make those spies follow him? Those men only recognize money, not loyalty! With Shang Qitai gone, why would they sell their lives for a mere accountant?"
"Good question." Xu Wuyou stared down at Pang Yu.
"What does he use to buy loyalty?" Xu Wuyou sneered, then dropped news that could shake the entire Canal Guild: "He uses the annual tributes—the 'Yearly Offerings'—that Shang Qitai was supposed to send into the treasury every year!"
Boom!
Pang Yu’s brain reeled. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed.
Yearly Offerings!
That was the protection money that ministers of the Six Boards and local bigwigs paid annually to the Minister of Revenue! The sum was staggering—enough to buy half of Tongzhou city.
"Hall Master... you mean..." Pang Yu’s voice cracked as his Adam’s apple bobbed. "Lu Wenzhao... he embezzled the Shangshu Mansion’s Yearly Offerings?"
"Shang Qitai thought he had everything under control, but he let the wolf into his own house."
Xu Wuyou laughed coldly.
"Lu Wenzhao ran the Silver Ledger Office. Over the years, under the guise of laundering money and issuing boat loans, he cooked the books perfectly."
"He had the audacity to secretly siphon off Shang Qitai’s Yearly Offerings. Now that Shang Qitai is in prison, that massive fortune becomes Lu Wenzhao’s capital—to recruit soldiers, buy loyalty, and set himself up as an independent power!"
Xu Wuyou settled back into the grand armchair, his fingers once again resting on the abacus.
A single bead clicked down, swiftly pronouncing someone’s fate.
“He thought he’d played it cleverly, thought that with Shang Qitai out of the way, no one in this realm could untangle this mess of embezzlement.” Xu Wuyou’s expression was proud. “Pity. He miscalculated one thing. When it comes to the accounts on these waters, our Xu family calculates far more clearly than he ever could.”
Pang Yu stood before the large desk, utterly stunned.
He stared blankly at the lazy, carefree Hall Master before him, his mind a tangled mess.
What had the Hall Master been up to these past few days?
Pang Yu mulled over the recent events in his head.
The Hall Master slept until noon every day, and when he did show up at the Water Transport Hall, he didn’t bother with business. He either sipped the finest tea or listened to blind performers from the city sing ballads.
Even when dockworkers brawled over the halted canal boats, the Hall Master couldn’t be bothered to appear—he simply ordered Pang Yu to take men and beat the troublemakers before tossing them into the river.
In Pang Yu’s eyes, the Hall Master was just a hands-off boss, a man who had beaten the Minister of Revenue in the capital and had now come to Tongzhou to loaf around in comfort.
But now?!
Pang Yu looked down at the blue-covered ledger in his hand, then at the yellow-paper dossier.
The Hall Master hadn’t even stepped one foot out of the Water Transport Hall! He hadn’t even met Lu Wenzhao’s face!
Yet, the Hall Master knew exactly whom Lu Wenzhao had met, which roads he’d taken, and even how much silver Lu Wenzhao had secretly pocketed—down to the last coin!
Was this even human?!
A chill ran down Pang Yu’s spine. Cold sweat soaked through his undershirt.
He suddenly remembered that a few days ago, when the Hall Master had told him to send men to tail Lu Wenzhao, he’d brushed it off, thinking a mere accountant couldn’t stir up much trouble.
The Hall Master had just smiled and said, “The dogs that bite don’t bark.”
So the Hall Master had already turned Lu Wenzhao’s whole world inside out!
On the surface, the Hall Master was just drinking tea and listening to tunes, but deep down, he knew everything, calmly watching Lu Wenzhao flail about in vain!
That kind of cunning sent a shiver through anyone—more unnerving than the Imperial Intelligence Bureau’s interrogation methods.
The House of Sincere Count… the Xu family…
Pang Yu swallowed hard. The name Xu Wuyou suddenly carried immense weight.
Even the Minister of Revenue had been brought down by Old Master Xu in the imperial court; a maggot like Lu Wenzhao didn’t even amount to a speck of dust in the Hall Master’s eyes.
The Hall Master wasn’t making a move—he was waiting for Lu Wenzhao to reveal every single card he held, to gather all his hidden agents, so he could net them all in one sweep!
That kind of thinking was truly deep.
Thump!
Pang Yu couldn’t bear the fear any longer. His knees gave way.
“Hall Master, your foresight is like a god! Your subordinate is in awe!” Pang Yu pressed his forehead to the floor, his voice brimming with fervor. “That Lu thought he could fly to the heavens, but he never knew he was right under your eye the whole time!”
Xu Wuyou looked down at the trembling Pang Yu and felt a little speechless.
He’d only pieced together the whereabouts of the missing tribute goods based on intelligence his father, Xu Youde, had sent back, combined with his own audit of the canal guild’s accounts.
Why did this fat guy suddenly act like he was some divine soothsayer?
Still, if Pang Yu was going to think that way, it saved Xu Wuyou the trouble of explaining.
Being the boss meant keeping a bit of mystery and intimidation—it was indeed effective.
“Get up. Kneeling like that—what a sight.” Xu Wuyou waved a hand, his tone slipping back into laziness.
Pang Yu scrambled to his feet, his face beaming with sycophantic smiles, his back bent lower than before as he gazed at Xu Wuyou, his eyes filled with absolute submission.
Just then, Xu Wuyou, who had been staring out the window in thought, suddenly shivered.
Hey—could this be how his little sister felt all the time?!
