“Ning, dear, has got a good deal thinner. Eat more!”

In the room, Yudie kept putting food into Ning Chen’s bowl.

Ning Chen was in fact hungry. From the moment he reached the capital, a whole day had gone by in which he had not managed so much as a mouthful of water.

He wolfed it down and got his belly full at last.

With his belly full, his mind was a good deal steadier too.

“Ning, dear, will this girl wait on you at your bath?”

Yudie said it with a shy flush all over her face.

Ning Chen nodded and made a sound of assent!

Yudie had the leavings on the table carried away, and then had hot water made ready.

She herself came around behind Ning Chen and rubbed his shoulders gently.

Before long the hot water was ready!

Ning Chen got up, pulling his clothes off as he walked, and by the time he reached the tub he was bare as an egg.

He stepped into the tub, sank the whole of himself under the water and let out a groan of comfort.

He had not had a proper hot bath since he left the capital.

Yudie wiped his back for him, gently.

“Yudie, after I left the capital, did anybody too blind to know better come and make trouble for you?”

Yudie shook her head and said in her soft voice, “No… Ning, dear’s name has been known all over the capital a long while. Nobody has made trouble for this girl.”

Ning Chen inclined his head slightly.

“Yudie, get in with me?”

Yudie’s pretty face went crimson, and she nodded obediently.

She slipped her clothes off, showing a soft white body, fine-grained, and stepped into the tub.

Ning Chen’s eyes burned and his breath came short.

He put out an arm and gathered that soft body in, and then drew Yudie into a game of pearl-diving underwater.

He had not touched a woman in better than two months.

Yudie had long since made ready to line the road and welcome him, and Ning Chen was naturally not a man to be stingy. He handed over everything in the bag.

Not until the water in the tub had gone cold did the two of them shift the campaign to the bed.

Ning Chen marveled at Yudie’s figure.

There was not an ounce of flesh on Yudie that had grown in the wrong place.

Not until the sky was faintly light did Ning Chen fall deeply asleep with Yudie in his arms.

The next day, early morning.

Yudie waited on Ning Chen while he dressed and washed and took his breakfast.

Yudie, having been watered, was brighter and lovelier than ever.

Ning Chen, by contrast, was in poorer shape, and somewhat worn.

紅粉佳人體態妍，相逢勿認是良緣。 試問多少貪花輩，不削功名也削年。

The powdered beauty, how fair her body is; when you meet her, do not take it for a good match. Ask how many men greedy for flowers have pared away their honors, or pared away their years.

Rest tonight. No coming back!

That prescription the old madam had given him ought to be tried, too.

And he had to buy himself a house.

Fed and watered, Yudie set Ning Chen’s clothes straight for him like an obedient little wife.

Ning Chen put an arm around her slender waist and bit gently at her small red mouth.

“I’m going on duty. I’ll come and find you tonight!”

Yudie made a shy sound of assent!

Walking out of the courtesans’ quarter, Ning Chen checked. Hadn’t it been settled that he wasn’t coming tonight?

Uh… he probably hadn’t said that. Right, he certainly hadn’t said it. He had misremembered.

Ning Chen looked left and right and saw no sign of Pan Yucheng’s horse. Pan Yucheng had probably gone already.

He swung up into the saddle, and rode Diaochan clop, clop, clop back to the Inspectorate, and went to find Geng Jing at once.

Geng Jing was not there. He had gone to the morning audience.

Ning Chen walked toward the prison.

He came to the Inspectorate prison and went to the deepest part of it.

The deepest part was the death cells.

Ning Chen came to the cell where the Left Chancellor was held.

“Somebody. Open the door!”

“Yes!”

A red coat came running from a distance, unsteady on his feet.

Ning Chen frowned. He could smell the sharp reek of drink on the man.

“You dare drink on duty?”

The red coat went white in the face with fright. “This subordinate knows he did wrong. Ning the Silver Coat’s pardon… This subordinate’s wife gave him a son a few days ago, and last night I was happy for a moment and drank a few too many!”

“Not again. These are all serious criminals in here. If anything happens, nobody can save you!”

“Thank you, Ning the Silver Coat. This subordinate promises there will be no next time!”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent. “Open the door!”

The red coat opened the cell door.

Ning Chen went in. The Left Chancellor was curled in the corner facing the wall, as though he had not noticed anyone come in.

“Lord Left Chancellor. Are you finding the Inspectorate’s cells comfortable to live in?”

The Left Chancellor pretended not to hear.

Ning Chen said mildly, “He assists the Son of Heaven and handles the ten thousand affairs of state. You stand at the head of the officials, and this is the whole size of you?”

“You had my mother killed and I am sending you to the block. It is fair and it is reasonable. The way you are behaving now does not match your standing.”

“Does the Lord Left Chancellor really not want to keep a little dignity before he dies?”

The Left Chancellor still did not stir, as though he were dead.

Ning Chen smiled coldly, unhooked the blade at his waist and prodded the Left Chancellor with it. “Lord Left Chancellor, get up and talk…”

生前何必久睡，死後自會長眠。

Why sleep long while you are alive? After death you will sleep forever.

“You’ll be dead very soon, and you’ll have all the time you want for sleeping.”

The Left Chancellor still did not move.

Ning Chen went still for a second, feeling that something was wrong, and forced the Left Chancellor’s body over — and when he saw the face clearly his own changed instantly.

The man’s eyes were shut tight, his face purple-black, and there was no breath left in him… but this man was not the Left Chancellor at all.

Ning Chen turned and strode out of the cell and ran for the outside, shouting as he went: “Seal the prison. In, but not out. Anyone who disobeys, cut him down!”

Out of the prison, Ning Chen ran flat out the whole way and came to the door of Pan Yucheng’s room.

The silver coat at the door had not had time to announce him before Ning Chen burst in.

Pan Yucheng was going through case files. A good deal of work had piled up while he was away.

Before Pan Yucheng could open his mouth Ning Chen said, fast, “Old Pan, give the order to seal the Inspectorate. The Left Chancellor is gone!”

Pan Yucheng’s face changed instantly.

“Old Pan, give me your waist tally. You stay and seal the Inspectorate, and hold everyone who was on duty in the prison last night… I’m going into the palace now to ask His Majesty for a decree sealing the whole city.”

Pan Yucheng nodded and threw Ning Chen his gold coat’s waist tally.

Only a waist tally of gold coat or above carries the right to enter the palace and come before the emperor at any hour.

Ning Chen came charging out of the Inspectorate, put his horse to a gallop and made for the palace.

In the court that day there were two matters under discussion.

One was the Left Chancellor’s selling out to the enemy and betraying the country.

One was settling how Ning Chen and all the soldiers were to be rewarded.

With the Left Chancellor down so suddenly, hearts were uneasy throughout the court.

Selling out to the enemy and betraying the country, and murdering a son of the imperial house… it raised in the Xuan Emperor a sense of danger such as he had never felt before.

He proposed again that Ning Chen be made marquis.

But the greater part of the whole court, civil and military, jumped out to oppose it.

And their grounds were more than sufficient. Ning Ziming’s crime was punishable to the ninth degree of kin, and Ning Chen was Ning Ziming’s son. Not killing him was generous enough. To make him a marquis besides — was that not absurd?

The Xuan Emperor was in the middle of this headache when a guard reported.

“Reporting to Your Majesty. Ning Chen, Ning the Silver Coat, begs an audience!”

The quarreling in the hall went quiet at once.

The Xuan Emperor checked. For Ning Chen to beg an audience at this hour, it had to be urgent.

“Bring him in!”

“Yes!”

The guard withdrew, and a little while later Ning Chen walked quickly into the great hall.

“Your subject greets Your Majesty!”

“Rise… Ning Chen, you beg an audience with this emperor at this hour. Is there something?”

Ning Chen’s cold gaze swept across the civil and military officials, came to rest at last on the crown prince, and then moved away again very quickly.

He said it one word at a time: “Your Majesty. The Left Chancellor is gone!”

The officials started violently, astonishment on every face.

The Xuan Emperor’s brows drew together. “What do you mean, gone?”

Ning Chen said, “Your subject went down to the cells just now, and found that the man in the cell was not the Left Chancellor but somebody of much the same build… Somebody made the switch and carried the Left Chancellor off.”

The noise broke out among the officials at once!

Geng Jing went white in the face, and cold sweat came out on his forehead.

The Left Chancellor was lost, and he could hardly escape the blame for it!

The Xuan Emperor’s face was as bad as a face can be.

“Good, good, good… The Inspectorate’s prison is called the hall of the King of Hell, and now somebody can walk a man out of the Inspectorate’s prison. Is this still this emperor’s Inspectorate?”

“Rebellion, all of it… The man was thrown into the death cells only yesterday, and today he is gone. Have any of you any regard left for me as your emperor?”

The Xuan Emperor was mad with rage. The dragon countenance was in a fury.

The officials, civil and military, went down on the floor in fright.

“Let your anger cool, Your Majesty. Your subjects are guilty!”

That made the Xuan Emperor angrier still. “You wretched things. Is that the only line any of you know?”

“Geng Jing. This emperor put the man in your hands… Now tell this emperor. Where is he?”

The last words came out very nearly as a roar.

Cold sweat stood out on Geng Jing’s forehead, and for a moment he had no idea how to defend himself.

“Your subject is guilty. I beg Your Majesty’s mercy—”

“Mercy? This emperor trusted you so far… and this is how you repay him?”

Seeing it, Ning Chen said, “Your Majesty, your subject has already had the Inspectorate sealed… Your subject would ask Your Majesty for a decree sealing the whole city.”

The Xuan Emperor gave Geng Jing one cold look, and then said, “Nie Liang, carry this emperor’s decree. Seal the city gates.”

“Your subject takes the order!”

The Xuan Emperor’s gaze settled on Ning Chen. “Ning Chen, you will command the Inspectorate for the present, and the garrison is to give you every assistance… The man is to be found for this emperor, whatever it takes.”

Ning Chen hesitated a moment and looked at Geng Jing.

Geng Jing gave Ning Chen a small nod without being seen, telling him to accept.

Ning Chen said, “Your subject obeys the decree!”

“Your Majesty, your subject would ask for Lord Geng’s help. He knows the Inspectorate better than your subject does.”

The Xuan Emperor nodded and made a sound of assent. “Go, quickly!”

Ning Chen and Geng Jing left the hall and walked fast toward the palace gate.

“Lord Geng, I am truly sorry. The matter was urgent, and I—”

Geng Jing waved a hand and smiled bitterly. “You did exactly right. Sealing the whole city now, there is still some chance of finding him.”

“If it drags on too long, finding him gets harder still… and by then I would be finished as the Inspectorate’s purple coat.”

Ning Chen said, “His Majesty did not punish you outright, which shows he trusts you still.”

Geng Jing nodded slightly.

“Ning Chen, the man has to be found… Otherwise it will be my turn to go into the Inspectorate’s prison.”

Ning Chen made a sound of assent and said, “I want him found more than you do.”

“Lord Geng, you didn’t question the Left Chancellor last night?”

Geng Jing shook his head. “Too much happened yesterday… I meant to question him today after the audience, and I never expected this business.”

“The Inspectorate’s prison is closely guarded. What sort of people could possibly have the ability to get a man out of it?”

Ning Chen said heavily, “To get a man out of the Inspectorate you need outsiders and you also need somebody inside the Inspectorate working with them… Outsiders cannot get into the Inspectorate’s prison at all.”

Geng Jing’s eyes contracted. “You mean somebody in the Inspectorate is working with somebody outside?”

Ning Chen nodded slightly.

“The Inspectorate’s prison is closely guarded. Even if you got the man out of the cells, there are men on watch outside around the clock, and getting him out of the building would not be easy… and the Left Chancellor is built like a pig. He is not easy to hide.”

“And these people managed to get a man of much the same build as the Left Chancellor quietly in, and take the Left Chancellor out… That is no small ability.”

Geng Jing said heavily, “Without help from inside the Inspectorate, outsiders could not have done it at all.”

Ning Chen nodded. “And this person’s post in the Inspectorate is not a low one either.”

Geng Jing sighed. “Have you got anything to go on yet?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “Come on, quickly. We’ll talk when we’re back!”

(End of Chapter 175)