It took some doing to talk the Fourth Prince into leaving, and before he could draw breath Li Hanru, Li Zhixing and the rest were arriving at the door one after another.

The day left Ning Chen worn out.

In the evening he and Feng Qizheng went to the courtesans' quarter.

He gave Jiang Daniu and Tian Jiang their orders: Yudie was to be protected without fail.

He had no office now, and there was no guaranteeing that somebody would not start getting ideas.

Most important of all, Fan Taihe was only the piece out where you could see it.

Who stood behind him was still unknown.

Ning Chen was about to go up to the third floor when he caught sight of a figure... It was Silence.

Ning Chen followed him down and came to a quiet corner.

"The marquis has taken a bad fall this time."

Silence said it in a low voice.

Ning Chen smiled evenly. If Silence had not come to him, he would have found an occasion to go looking for Silence.

"I want everything you have on Fan Taihe."

Silence said nothing. He simply drew a sheaf of papers out of his robe and handed it over.

Ning Chen took it and looked. It was everything there was on Fan Taihe.

"Professional indeed."

Ning Chen was not sparing with the praise. The man was the head of the Wu Kingdom's agents, and it showed.

"Has the marquis any other orders?"

Ning Chen said, "Keep a close watch on Fan Taihe for me and find out who is behind him."

Silence nodded.

"You have been hidden in the capital a long time. Do you know who Fan Taihe is close to?"

Silence shook his head. "The man has been away from the capital for a long time. He fell outside what we could observe."

Ning Chen made a sound of assent. "Watch him closely for me."

"Yes."

"Has the woman emperor sent word lately?"

Silence said, "One letter. It told us to do whatever the marquis says."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing."

Ning Chen made a face.…