Chapter 16 : Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Transaction

Anxi Street was silent, moonlight spilling over the bluestone path like a flowing stream, serene and clear.

I stood wordlessly inside the door. Outside, Yunyang didn’t rush me. Separated by the threshold, we stood quietly.

After a long pause, I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door with a creak: “Lord Yunyang, what’s the matter?”

Outside, Yunyang wore sleek black robes, as if freshly pressed, his hair neatly tied with a hairpin, like a young noble from an opera.

Across the high threshold of Taiping Clinic, Yunyang smiled: “Not inviting me in to sit?”

I shook my head: “There’s no place for tea in the clinic. How about we talk here?”

“Hm?” Yunyang studied me with interest. “Don’t you know I’m from the Secret Spy Division? Didn’t Physician Yao tell you?”

“He did.”

Yunyang’s smile faded: “Then you know when the Secret Spy Division wants to sit in someone’s home, no one dares refuse. Aren’t you afraid of me?”

With that, he stepped over the threshold, brushing past me into the clinic as if I weren’t there.

“I’m afraid,” I turned, admitting earnestly, “but I suggested talking here because I know you’re in a hurry and I don’t want to waste your time.”

“Oh?” Yunyang, hands behind his back, surveyed the clinic curiously. “Why am I in a hurry?”

I stood at the door, looking at his back: “You arrested Liu family members, causing Old Master Liu to faint from rage, near death. With the Liu family’s Grand Chancellor and Minister of Personnel rushing back to Luocheng, you must be anxious.”

Yunyang laughed: “You deduce my situation from Physician Yao being called to treat the Liu family? I’m here on the Inner Minister’s orders. What’s the Liu family to me? I suspect you’re a Jing Dynasty spy. Come with me to the Inner Prison.”

I leaned against the doorframe: “Lord Yunyang, let’s be frank. If you were really here to arrest me, why come yourself? You’d send two men.”

Yunyang turned, staring into my eyes, noting my resolve: “Since you’re so clever, you must know Physician Yao’s gone tonight. I could kill you without a reason. How dare you confront me?”

I confronted him because, as Yunyang said to Zhou Chengyi: when you see the Secret Spy Division, you have no choice.

Cooperate or die.

But I had other ideas.

Seeing my silence, Yunyang said slowly: “Since you’re smart, guess why I’m here. If you’re right, you prove your worth.”

I said: “They say the Secret Spy Division can execute first and report later, with imperial sanction, but that power assumes you kill the right people.”

Yunyang raised an eyebrow: “Go on.”

I frowned, analyzing: “There aren’t many reasons for you to visit me in the dead of night. You must’ve arrested people but found no evidence to convict them. With Old Master Liu dying, if you can’t prove your arrests were justified, the Inner Minister might make you the scapegoat.”

“Well done!” Yunyang clapped, getting to the point: “Jiaotu followed your lead and searched Luocheng’s twenty-two rice paper shops, finding two with paper matching Zhou Chengyi’s, both tied to the Liu family. But we found no other evidence in the shops.”

I asked quickly: “Did you wipe all the paper with vinegar?”

“We did, but no writing appeared.”

I frowned: “If there’s no evidence, why arrest people?”

Yunyang sneered, flicking his sleeve: “The Secret Spy Division never lets a Jing Dynasty spy slip. Killing one wrongly is better than letting one go. A single spy can cause a hundred frontline soldiers’ deaths—or more. Three years ago, a spy in the army transporting autumn grain via the Grand Canal burned 2,400 shi of our Ning Dynasty’s supplies, enough for a thousand soldiers for a month. Serious enough?”

“But you didn’t expect Old Master Liu to die from rage. Without that, arresting a few young Liu members wouldn’t matter, right?”

Yunyang’s face showed rare helplessness: “Who knew the old man’s life was so fragile? Jiaotu’s still stalling the Liu family. We need evidence.”

I asked: “When do we start?”

Yunyang stepped over the threshold: “Now!”

“Hold on.”

“Hm?”

I didn’t move, asking earnestly: “What’s in it for me?”

…

…

Yunyang stopped, turning under Anxi Street’s moonlight, half-smiling: “You dare negotiate with me?”

I didn’t cower before his authority, saying honestly: “Lord Yunyang, you and Jiaotu are in a bind. It’s not my problem, but if I help, I deserve some reward. Think of me as a dockworker at the canal—paid for my labor.”

Yunyang laughed, stepping forward and stabbing a silver needle into my chest, so fine it was barely visible in the moonlight.

Instantly, veins bulged on my neck, and unbearable pain hit, nearly knocking me out.

Yunyang’s voice chilled: “The Secret Spy Division doesn’t bargain.”

I gasped, clutching the doorframe: “There’s always an exception.”

Yunyang countered: “Why? You think this depends on you?”

I straightened, meeting his eyes: “Yes, it does.”

The world stilled.

It was as if a massive pressure descended on Anxi Street, silencing everything.

I continued: “If it didn’t, Lord Yunyang wouldn’t come to a nobody like me at such a critical moment.”

Did the Secret Spy Division lack spy-catchers? Surely not.

But Yunyang had said they were temporarily assigned to Luocheng. Their style suggested they weren’t spy-catchers but… assassins.

The day they caught Zhou Chengyi, neither showed counter-espionage skills, only secretive, decisive killing.

Now, tasked with a major mission, they’d caused a huge mess.

They needed someone to clean it up… a smart someone.

Yunyang’s eyes narrowed: “Even if I need your help now, aren’t you afraid I’ll come for you later? I suggest you weigh every word, or the consequences will be more than you can bear.”

I said: “Lord Yunyang will deal with many spies in the future. Where there are spies, there’s merit. If I help you earn merit, why would you trouble me?”

“Hm,” Yunyang’s eyes lit up.

Of all my words, this was the first to truly catch his interest!

“You think you can help me earn merit?” he asked.

I said: “I found the alum at Zhou Chengyi’s.”

“Not a big merit,” Yunyang shook his head.

I shook mine: “No, the merit isn’t Zhou Chengyi—it’s that you, Lord Yunyang, uncovered the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Division’s method of writing secret messages. The Secret Spy Division missed this when searching homes, losing much information. Re-checking with this method might yield surprises.”

Yunyang’s eyes gleamed brighter: “Right! This’ll show the Inner Minister what Jiaotu and I…”

He glanced at me, stopping short.

Weighing his options, he asked: “What reward do you want?”

I said: “Power. I want a position in the Secret Spy Division.”

Yunyang scoffed: “You think I’m the Inner Minister? The Secret Spy Division, under the Ceremonial Directorate, is the most powerful agency, handling the most covert tasks. Joining requires the Chief Punishment Division to vet three generations and report to the Inner Minister. No one else can decide!”

I said: “Then money.”

I hadn’t really wanted power, but you don’t reveal your true intent upfront—start big.

Seeing I didn’t insist on a position, Yunyang relaxed: “How much?”

“Two thousand taels of silver.”

“What?!”

I asked: “Can’t do it?”

Yunyang scratched his scalp: “My annual salary’s only thirty-six taels, and you ask for two thousand?! Keep being ridiculous, and I’ll stick you with needles!”

“Does the Secret Spy Division live on salaries alone?” I didn’t buy it.

Yunyang paused, reining in his excitement over “merit” and said firmly: “For each merit you earn me, I’ll give you fifty taels.”

“Only fifty taels from someone as grand as you?”

“Only fifty? That’s enough to buy twenty maids in West Market! Time’s tight—Jiaotu can’t stall long. Delay more, and I’ll kill you. Last time: fifty taels, yes or no?”

“Yes!”

Yunyang turned to leave: “Three hours till dawn. That’s all you’ve got.”

“Where are you going to find evidence?”

“Taking you to the rice paper shop. Maybe you’ll find something!”

I shook my head: “Not the shop—Zhou Chengyi’s residence.”

Yunyang frowned: “Didn’t you already find the alum there? What else is there?”

I stayed silent.

Yunyang realized: “Wait, you found other clues at Zhou’s place but didn’t tell me or Jiaotu!”

“I kept a card to protect myself. Please forgive me, Lord Yunyang,” I said. I was never one to surrender. Even when killing, with a knife in my waist, I’d bite a chunk from my enemy’s neck.

“Hiss!” Yunyang sucked in a breath. “I’m starting to think you’re a Jing Dynasty spy.”

“Would a Jing Dynasty spy help you catch spies?”

Yunyang pressed two fingers to his tongue, whistling sharply. A steed galloped from Anxi Street’s corner.

He mounted, pulling me up behind him: “Hold tight!”

The horse’s cloth-wrapped hooves thudded dully on the bluestone, charging into the early morning mist.

No one noticed a small black cat, always hidden in the eaves’ shadows, leaping lightly across the gray tiles, following us.