novelSusiti Chapter 57 An empty pocket was sewn into the cuff—the day I put it in, I'll be dead.
Chapter 57 An empty pocket was sewn into the cuff—the day I put it in, I'll be dead.
It was the fifth watch of the night. The rooster hadn't crowed. The curtains moved first.
Bamboo slips. Dong Yun's calligraphy. Handwritten. The ink wasn't completely dry.
"At the second quarter of Hai hour, Li Shun left his room and knocked on Qian Dafu's door."
The door opened. The two entered the room. The door closed. Light shone through the paper windows. About half an hour later.
"The lights went out. Li Shun went back next door. Qian Dafu didn't come out."
"The sentry peered through the window. He heard seven words—'Did you bring the thing?' 'Yes, I did.'"
Liu Shan placed the bamboo strips on the table.
His thumb sank into the dent. He pressed for two breaths.
Turn it over. There's more on the other side.
"At the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), Qian Dafu left through the back door of the inn. He had a square bulge in his pocket. He headed west of the city."
"I went to the side gate of the Jianwei Guild Hall. I knocked three times. The door opened. I went in."
"When I came out, my arms were flat."
The items were delivered to the Jianwei Guild Hall.
He entered the Jianwei Guild Hall through Qian Dafu, speaking to someone with a Guanzhong accent.
Liu Shan retrieved the diagram from the bottom of the hidden compartment.
Vermilion brush.
The blank space between the two lines—was drawn. It's now connected.
Sun Huan. Xiahou Yuan's troops. Cao Wei military intelligence. Ruichang. Guanzhong accent.
Zhao Heng. Zhao Ping. Jianwei Cloth Shop. Jianwei Guild Hall. Qian Dafu.
Li Shun was standing in the middle.
Both ends are accessible.
Liu Shan wrote three characters at the intersection.
Contact person.
The pen didn't stop. Another line was added.
What exactly was that shipment?
The atlas was confiscated. It's placed on the table. Waiting.
-
It was Chen Shi (7-9 AM). Dong Yun arrived. He was two hours slower than the bamboo slip. His face showed signs of travel, and his boots were damp with dew.
"Liu An has investigated thoroughly."
Liu Shan raised his hand, gesturing for someone to sit.
Dong Yun didn't sit. He spoke while standing.
"He entered the palace in the first year of Jianxing. His resume was fine. But there was a problem with his money."
"His monthly salary is six hundred coins. Last December, he deposited thirty thousand coins at a money exchange in the south of the city."
"I deposited another sum this January. Twenty thousand."
Fifty thousand coins. Even a steward of the kitchen couldn't save that much in ten years.
"Where will the money come from?"
"The money exchange clerk recognized the person delivering the money. He'd come twice before, each time on horseback, entering the city from the south gate."
Dong Yun lowered his voice by half a beat.
"The second time I came, the money changer took a closer look—there was a satchel hanging on the saddle. There was a character embroidered on the satchel."
"What word?"
"Zhao".
No one spoke in the hall.
Zhao.
The Zhao in Zhao Ping. The Zhao in Zhao Heng.
"Where is Zhou Fu?"
"Yesterday was the same as usual. Serving meals and sweeping the floor. Nothing unusual."
Dong Yun paused for a moment.
"But there is one thing."
"I had someone examine Zhou Fu's clothes. Inside the cuff of his undergarment that he had changed out of—there was a hidden pocket sewn on."
"Empty."
"When was it sewn?"
"New stitches. No more than five days old."
An empty dark pocket.
It's sewn up. Now it's ready to be packed.
Liu Shan raised his thumb from the armrest.
"Xiao Shunzi has been transferred back?"
"This morning, I personally approved the note."
What was Liu An's reaction?
"No response. They signed the papers. They released him."
no response.
It's more worth remembering than a reaction.
Liu Shan pulled a strip of silk from his sleeve and wrote two lines.
First line: Jianwei Guild Hall. The things Qian Dafu sent in—find a way to investigate. Don't alert them.
Second line: Zhou Fu's inner pocket. Check daily. Report immediately if there's a day when he's unavailable.
He handed it to Dong Yun.
"Make it myself."
Dong Yun accepted it. He walked to the door.
"Xiu Zhao."
Dong Yun turned around.
"Li Shun has been staying here for a few days."
"The third day."
"He won't stay long."
Dong Yun nodded and went out.
-
In the afternoon, Zhuge Liang arrived.
He held in his hands the third draft of the Northern Expedition Strategy. Six pages. Twice as thick as the second draft.
Liu Shan did not consult the strategy first.
Spread the diagrams on the table.
Zhuge Liang read it.
Starting from Sun Huan's end, follow the line downwards. Zhao Heng. Zhao Ping. Jianwei Guild Hall. Qian Dafu. Liu An. Zhou Fu.
Finally, my gaze fell on the point where the two lines intersected—Li Shun.
The feather fan rested on his lap. He didn't move.
"How long has it been?"
"Starting from the wax tube. Four months."
"Starting from Sun Huan..."
"Seven years."
Zhuge Liang withdrew his finger from the diagram and placed it on the armrest.
Five breaths passed.
"How does Your Majesty plan to close the net?"
"No rush."
Liu Shan's thumb spun half a circle in the indentation.
"Li Shun was the contact person. He handed the goods over to Qian Dafu. Qian Dafu delivered them to the Qianwei Guild Hall. The person who received the goods at the guild hall was the head of this line."
"The head didn't show. Now we're closing the net. We've only caught the hands and feet."
Zhuge Liang nodded.
"There's one more layer."
Liu Shan pointed to Zhou Fu's name.
"He had a hidden pocket sewn into his cuff. Empty. Waiting to be filled with something."
"What needs to be brought in from outside the palace—sewed into the cuffs of the inner garments?"
Zhuge Liang's gaze fell on those few words.
Hidden pocket. Undergarment. Close-fitting.
"medicine?"
"Or powder."
The hall was silent for three breaths.
"The Northern Expedition is imminent. I intend to personally lead the expedition."
Liu Shan stood up and walked to the window.
The sunlight was bright outside the window. White-feathered soldiers changed shifts in the corridor. Their armor gleamed.
"Prime Minister, this group of people must be wiped out before the army sets off."
"But we mustn't panic. If we panic—the higher-ups will retreat, only to reappear on the Northern Expedition route. We won't be able to defend against it."
Zhuge Liang stood up. He walked to the map and his fingertips landed on the Jianwei Guild Hall.
"How did they manage to force out the person receiving the goods at the guild hall?"
"Food shortage."
Zhuge Liang raised his eyes.
"Jiang Wan was transferred to Jianwei as the Salt and Iron Commissioner last month. The new official has taken office."
Liu Shan's finger traced from the Jianwei Guild Hall to Zhao Ping's cloth shop.
"Zhao Ping's three cloth shops. Tax inspection. No arrests. Inspections every day."
"He can't hold on any longer. He'll send a message to the guild hall. The person who sends the message—is that leader."
Zhuge Liang raised his feather fan an inch, then put it down again.
"Your subject will comply. The Prime Minister's Office will issue an official document ordering a review of the business registers of all merchants in Jianwei County this year."
"Perfect."
Zhuge Liang left the third draft of the strategy on the table and walked to the door.
"His Majesty."
"Um."
Zhuge Liang didn't turn around. He paused for a moment.
"The strategy is in its third draft. The fourth general has been filled in. Your Majesty, please take a look and see if it is suitable."
They went out.
-
into the night.
The curtains moved. (Chen Dao's words.)
"Li Shun. Checked out this afternoon. Ridge out of the south gate. Heading towards Hanzhong."
gone.
Liu Shan placed the silk strip under the paperweight.
The contact came for three days. He delivered the gifts. Then he left.
The items have already been taken to the Jianwei Guild Hall.
Next step – sending the guild hall to the palace.
Through whose hands?
Qian Dafu was not qualified to enter the palace.
Liu An couldn't get any goods from outside.
There's still one person missing.
Liu Shan retrieved the diagram from a hidden compartment. (A red ink brush.)
An empty circle was drawn between Qian Dafu and Liu An.
Two words were written next to it.
To be supplemented.
Retract the atlas. Press the cover firmly.
Turning to the third draft of the Northern Expedition strategy.
Page 1. Deployment of five troop forces.
Fourth Route. Chencang Ancient Road. Three thousand light cavalry.
The section for generals.
Zhuge Liang filled in two characters.
Wei Yan.
Liu Shan glanced at it for three breaths. Then he picked up his brush and added a line next to it.
The deputy general position is yet to be determined.
I put down my pen.
A document delivered by Qiao Zhou on his first day in office lay pressed on the corner of the desk. It contained the roster of students from the Imperial Academy in various prefectures of Yizhou. Seventeen academies. One thousand two hundred students.
There was a note from Jiang Wan underneath. The Salt and Iron Commissioner of Jianwei has taken office. Zhao Ping's cloth shop—tax audits will begin tomorrow.
Footsteps passed by the threshold. Lightly.
Xiao Shunzi's steps.
came back.
Liu Shan did not look up.
His lips twitched slightly. He quickly stopped.
The curtains moved again.
Dong Yun's man. Oral account. In a single sentence.
"Zhou Fu changed out of his undergarment today—there was an extra thing in the hidden pocket. Brown. The size of a bean."
Liu Shan's hand froze in mid-air.
The drop of ink from the pen tip fell onto a blank space in the third draft of the strategy. It bleed.
He didn't wipe it.
I pressed my thumb into the indentation. It's all the way in.
[End of Chapter]