“Ha ha ha!!!”

Ning Chen could not hold the laugh in. It tickled too much.

The man in black had found his ticklish spot.

The laugh came out of nowhere and left the man in black standing frozen.

And in the moment he stood there blank, Ning Chen’s eyes snapped open, a cold gleam flashed, and a sharp dagger was fed into his throat.

The man in black staggered backward with his hands at his neck, and inside two steps he went down limp on the floor.

Ning Chen sat up and looked over toward Feng Qizheng.

Feng Qizheng was laying the other man’s body down on the floor.

Ning Chen’s laugh had not only frozen the man searching him… it had frozen the man searching Feng Qizheng too.

Feng Qizheng had not even used his blade. He had broken the man’s neck with his hands.

Ning Chen rolled off the bed and went to the window, looked out, made sure there were no other men in black, and only then let himself relax.

Feng Qizheng asked, low, “Do we go and put this to Qiu Mingde now?”

“If I meant to put it to Qiu Mingde I wouldn’t have killed them… Get their night clothes off.”

Feng Qizheng looked completely blank, but seeing that Ning Chen had already started, he stripped the night clothes off his own man too.

He turned his head and found Ning Chen putting them on.

“Ning Chen, what are you thinking?”

Ning Chen said, pulling them on, “Fishing.”

Feng Qizheng did not follow. “Meaning what?”

“Put yours on first and we’ll talk.”

Feng Qizheng made a small sound.

The two of them got the night clothes on and the black cloth over their faces.

Ning Chen looked Feng Qizheng over and lowered his voice. “You’re too tall. Stoop a little. Stay behind me, and say as little as you can. Better if you say nothing.”

Feng Qizheng nodded.

The two of them climbed out through the window, drew it shut behind them, and began working along the shadow under the eaves.

Ning Chen took Feng Qizheng to the eaves opposite, looked things over, and edged toward the arched gate beside them.

They went through the arch, and behind it was a courtyard.

Ning Chen was looking around when a voice came from behind a locust tree not far off. “Over here.”

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth went up slightly, and he took Feng Qizheng over.

A thin figure came out from behind the tree.

It was the clerk.

He was the man who had come to invite them to the banquet that evening.

Ning Chen and Feng Qizheng stooped and kept their heads down, looking very respectful… which was in fact so that their eyes would not meet his.

The clerk spoke. “Well? What did you find?”

Ning Chen thought back to the way that man in black had talked.

One of them had said a line after they came into the room. They’re out. Be quick about it.

The man’s voice had been a little hoarse, and he came down hard on his words.

Ning Chen pitched his voice low. “They weren’t in the room.”

The clerk gave a start. “Not in the room?”

Ning Chen let out a small breath. It seemed the man had noticed nothing.

He nodded.

Where he could avoid speaking, he avoided speaking.

The clerk’s eyes flickered. “Not in the room at this hour? Where could they go?”

Ning Chen said, low, “Dark night, high wind. Either they’ve gone to kill somebody, or they’ve gone after something they badly want.”

The clerk thought hard for a moment, and then his gaze fixed all at once, as though something had come to him.

“You two, go on back.”

“Yes.”

Ning Chen took Feng Qizheng and left.

Outside the arch he pulled Feng Qizheng into the shadow of the wall corner.

The clerk went fast, and came to the door of a room in the rear courtyard.

He went up and knocked softly. “Master, it’s me… I have something important to report.”

Qiu Mingde was startled awake.

He got up off the bed, put a cloak over his shoulders and came and opened the door.

“What is it?”

The clerk said heavily, “Ning Chen isn’t in his room.”

Qiu Mingde gave a start. “He’s run? Good, let him run. If he stays in Yangping County and finds any evidence, we’re all finished.”

“Send word above. Ning Chen has very likely gone to the city of Xiuzhou, or to another county.”

The clerk hesitated a moment, then said, “Master, Li Jiu said just now—dark night, high wind, either they’ve gone to kill somebody or they’ve gone after something they badly want.”

Qiu Mingde stared for a second, and then his face changed all at once. “Bad… Come with me!”

The two of them went quickly, straight for the study.

At the study door they did not stop to think. They pushed it open and went in.

The clerk brought out a fire striker, blew on it, and lit the candle beside the door.

Qiu Mingde’s eyes swept the study, hard and sharp. He found no sign of anything having been disturbed, and let out a small breath.

Qiu Mingde’s eyes flickered a few times. “You go on out.”

“Yes.”

The clerk withdrew, and drew the door shut behind him.

Just then a dark shape appeared behind him, and a hand came down edgewise on his neck.

The clerk dropped without so much as a grunt.

Ning Chen put a thumb up at Feng Qizheng.

Inside the room.

Qiu Mingde went to a desk, worked it aside with some effort, then took a small knife out of his sleeve and pried up one of the stone floor tiles.

When he saw the black wooden box under the tile, he let out a heavy breath.

He never noticed the door being pushed gently open and two figures slipping in.

“It seems I still have things to learn from Lord Qiu about hiding things.”

The voice out of nowhere set Qiu Mingde shaking.

His head came up sharply.

Two men in black were standing in front of him.

“Some—”

Qiu Mingde was about to shout for somebody, but before the word was out of his mouth a big hand had closed on his throat.

Feng Qizheng gave a savage grin. “Whatever Lord Qiu does, don’t struggle. My grip is strong, and it would be a shame if I broke your neck by accident.”

Qiu Mingde’s face was all terror.

Ning Chen pulled the black cloth off his face.

Qiu Mingde’s eyes went round on the instant.

Ning Chen smiled. “It seems Lord Qiu is surprised to see me.”

As he spoke, Ning Chen walked over, bent down and took the wooden box out of the floor.

He set the box on the desk and opened it. Inside was a ledger.

He took it out and turned a few pages, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

The further Ning Chen read, the heavier his face became.

“Old Feng, knock him out.”

Feng Qizheng asked, without thinking, “We don’t question him first?”

Ning Chen lifted the book in his hand. “What’s written in here is far clearer than anything he’d say.”

Feng Qizheng nodded, and one edge of his hand knocked Qiu Mingde out.

“Old Feng, go and drag the clerk in here. Tie the two of them up, and remember to gag them.”

Feng Qizheng made a sound of agreement and turned to go.

Ning Chen looked down and saw there was more in the box. He took it out and looked: several secret letters, and on top of that a thick sheaf of silver notes.

The notes were ten thousand taels apiece, and there were twenty-odd of them.

A magistrate’s salary was no more than a hundred taels a year. With the integrity stipend, and the awards for a good assessment, it still came to no more than a few hundred taels a year.

And this man had taken more than two hundred thousand.

Three years as an honest prefect and you come away with a hundred thousand in snow-white silver.

No wonder everybody wanted to be an official. The money came too easily.

Ning Chen stuffed the silver notes and the secret letters inside his coat.

Feng Qizheng dragged the clerk in. There was no rope, so he stripped the clerk’s clothes off and twisted them into a rope, and tied the two of them up… then pulled the clerk’s cloth socks off and stuffed them into their mouths.

When he had finished, Feng Qizheng looked at Ning Chen. “What do we do now?”

“We run for it, obviously.”

Feng Qizheng looked at Qiu Mingde. “I think we could turn him. Make a witness of him.”

Ning Chen shook his head. “How do we run carrying a man? The ledger is enough… Move.”

(End of Chapter 308)