It came back to Ning Chen only then: the Inspectorate answered these days to Chen Zhaohan, the gold coat of the fifth department.

He put his hands behind his back and walked up slowly.

The two red coats saw Ning Chen coming and hurried forward to make their bow.

"We greet my lord prince."

Ning Chen waved a hand. "Is Chen the Gold Coat in there?"

"He is."

"Tell him to come out and see me."

Before the red coat who took the order could get inside and announce him, out came a middle-aged man — white-faced, beardless, a eunuch by the look of him.

This was Chen Zhaohan, the gold coat of the fifth department.

"I greet my lord prince."

Chen Zhaohan made his bow.

Ning Chen looked at him and asked, with no warmth in his voice, "Are you comfortable in Geng the Purple Coat's room?"

Chen Zhaohan wore a smile. "Has my lord prince come to call me to account?"

Ning Chen looked at him and said nothing.

Chen Zhaohan said, "I did not move into Geng the Purple Coat's room by choice. An imperial command is not to be disobeyed."

Ning Chen said with a cold laugh, "An imperial command is not to be disobeyed, is it... The Inspectorate has plenty of rooms. Why this one of Geng the Purple Coat's, out of all of them? Aren't you in too much of a hurry?"

"Chen the Gold Coat, move to another room, and put Geng the Purple Coat's room back as it was."

Chen Zhaohan lifted his head a little. "There is no need for my lord prince to trouble himself with the Inspectorate's business... The Inspectorate belongs to His Majesty alone. My lord prince would do better not to put a hand into the Inspectorate's affairs, in case it makes His Majesty unhappy."

Ning Chen said flatly, "Have you forgotten? I am one of the Inspectorate's own myself."

Chen Zhaohan gave an oh in that snide voice of his, as though he had only now remembered. "I had almost forgotten my lord prince still holds…