Ning Chen’s face was ugly with it. “How many died?”

Gao Ziping said, “By the time we came back we had found thirty-four burned bodies, and there are more still to dig out.”

“It has reached His Majesty. Geng the Purple Coat went into the palace and hasn’t come out yet.”

The anger caught and burned in Ning Chen, and under it there was more guilt than anything.

This is killing the men who knew and closing their mouths.

I named the Elegance Garden to the Right Chancellor only yesterday. I meant to beat the grass and startle the snake and draw out the man behind him.

I never imagined the methods would be as vicious as this — a fire, and everything gone at once.

Ning Chen left the Inspectorate.

He rode straight for the imperial palace.

At the palace gate he was just in time to see the Right Chancellor getting into his carriage.

Ning Chen rode forward and blocked the carriage.

“Master. It is Marquis Ning.”

The driver turned his head to say it.

The Right Chancellor lifted the curtain over the carriage’s little window.

Ning Chen brought his horse close and looked at that weathered old face and said it one word at a time. “The Right Chancellor knows his business.”

The Right Chancellor’s face was set. “I have the marquis’s own warning to thank for that.”

Ning Chen’s face darkened.

The Right Chancellor’s meaning was that if he had not named the Elegance Garden, nothing would have happened to the Elegance Garden.

Those people lost in the fire, dead for nothing, were Ning Chen’s own doing.

“The Right Chancellor has put every trace of conscience away. Aren’t you afraid those wronged souls will come looking for you when you wake in the middle of the night?”

The Right Chancellor’s face went a little pale.

“I do not understand a word the marquis is saying… If there is nothing else, this old man will take his leave.”

The Right Chancellor let the curtain fall and told the driver to go home.

Watching the carriage go, Ning Chen’s eyes were cold and hard.

The man behind the Right Chancellor has to be dug out and dealt with as soon as possible. He is not only buried deep; his methods are cruel and vicious.

Inside the carriage, the Right Chancellor’s brows were tight and his face was bloodless.

He was remembering what he had seen the night before.

The fire roaring, the smoke rolling up.

The people in the fire screaming fit to tear the heart out of a man.

And the plump, pale young man, laughing madly, his face a snarl, watching them scream in the fire with real interest and every sign of excitement.

The Right Chancellor shivered where he sat.

He could not help beginning to wonder whether he had attached himself to the right man after all.

A man as cruel and bloodthirsty as this, as twisted in his nature, as full of tricks — is he really fit to come to the throne?

Ning Chen turned his eyes away, brought his horse around, and stopped short.

A carriage came up and halted at the palace gate.

A plump, pale young man climbed out of the carriage, holding a plate tightly against his chest. There were cakes on the plate.

Ning Chen rode over and swung down from the saddle. “I greet the Fifth Prince.”

A simple, honest smile came over the Fifth Prince’s face. “Ning Chen. I remember you.”

Ning Chen said, smiling, “The Fifth Prince has a very good memory.”

The Fifth Prince was like a child who had been praised — pleased all through, his smile simple and innocent.

“Is the Fifth Prince going into the palace?”

The Fifth Prince nodded. “To play with Huai’an. I’ve brought her something good to eat.”

With that he clutched the plate tight against his chest, as if afraid Ning Chen would snatch it.

Ning Chen was surprised into a smile.

“Come on, then. We’ll go in together.”

The Fifth Prince looked at him. “Are you going to play with Huai’an too?”

“No. I’m going to see your father.”

The Fifth Prince said happily, “That’s good!”

“Hm? What’s good about it?”

The Fifth Prince shielded the plate at his chest. “I only brought this much. If you come there won’t be enough to eat.”

Ning Chen shook his head and laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t take your food.”

“Next time, though, remember to use a box… Running around holding a plate, you’ll drop it, and dust gets on the food.”

The Fifth Prince thought about it and nodded hard. “Ning Chen is very clever. Huai’an says you’re very clever too.”

As he said it, the Fifth Prince began stuffing the cakes into his sleeve.

“Fifth Prince, what are you doing?”

“Now they won’t fall so easily, and they won’t get dusty… Aren’t I clever?”

Every line of the Fifth Prince’s face was asking to be praised.

“Uh… the Fifth Prince certainly is clever.”

The Fifth Prince was overjoyed, and then, generous for once, gave Ning Chen a cake.

“Thank you for the Fifth Prince’s bounty.” Ning Chen took the cake, bit into it, and asked, curious, “I’ve eaten plenty of osmanthus cake, but why does the Fifth Prince’s osmanthus cake smell as good as this?”

The Fifth Prince’s face filled with pride, and then he said, all mystery, “Because I put dragon-fragrance grass in it! It’s my secret. I don’t tell just anybody. Don’t you tell anyone.”

Ning Chen nodded, smiling. “All right. I’ll keep the Fifth Prince’s secret.”

The Fifth Prince, all simple smiles, nodded.

“I’m going to share the food with Huai’an. Don’t you follow me, or there won’t be enough to go around.”

With that the Fifth Prince clutched his sleeve tight and went off at a run.

He kept looking back as he ran, as if afraid Ning Chen would come after him and take his food.

Ning Chen shook his head and laughed. The rich man’s idiot son.

But fools have a fool’s luck. The Fifth Prince may be simple, but he was born into an imperial house, and he’ll be raised in silk and fed on delicacies all his life.

Ning Chen was about to go into the palace when he saw Geng Jing come out.

“Ning Chen?” Geng Jing came out through the palace gate. “Are you going in to see His Majesty?”

Ning Chen shook his head. “I came to find you.”

“Me?”

Ning Chen nodded. “I heard about the Elegance Garden. I wanted to see whether there was anything I could help with.”

Geng Jing said heavily,

“Forty-six people burned to death in the fire at the Elegance Garden. His Majesty is in a towering rage and has ordered a full investigation.”

“Ning Chen, there is something odd about this fire.”

Ning Chen looked at him. “How do you mean?”

“I went over the Elegance Garden. The water jars were full, there was water in the pond, and there was very little wind last night. It should have been put out in time… And yet nobody in the Elegance Garden made the slightest move to fight it. They burned alive.”

Ning Chen frowned. “Could the people in the Elegance Garden have been drugged senseless when the fire broke out?”

Geng Jing shook his head. “No. I examined them. Every one of them burned alive while wide awake.”

Ning Chen did not follow. “If they were awake, and they neither fought the fire nor got out, what is the reason for it?”

Geng Jing said, “The only explanation is that they were shut in the rooms with the doors locked and then burned. What I found at the scene fits that.”

Ning Chen said sharply, “Then it wasn’t an accidental fire. It was deliberate murder.”

Geng Jing nodded.

Ning Chen asked, “Have you found anything else?”

Geng Jing said, “We found a sealed room. It had been swept out. Nothing in it.”

“As it happens, I’m going to the Elegance Garden now. Come with me… You have a fine eye. You may find something.”

Ning Chen nodded.

The two of them rode to the Elegance Garden.

It was a house four courtyards deep.

But now nothing was left of it but broken walls, and everything was charred black.

Ning Chen walked through it once. The place is burned to a state like this. Finding evidence here is going to be very hard.

Ning Chen came to the sealed room Geng Jing had found.

The sealed room had been carefully swept. There was nothing in it at all.

The crown prince was right. This time I really have met my match.

The man’s mind is dark, his methods are poison, and he leaves nothing behind him… He is a hard opponent, and no mistake.

Ning Chen was about to leave when his step faltered.

He went to the foot of the wall, where there was a small hole. A mouse hole, most likely.

Ning Chen fished a white object out of the hole, about the size of a fingernail.

He held it and looked at it a while. It seemed to be a scrap of cake.

Ning Chen put it under his nose and smelled it. The smell of the cake was somewhat familiar.

Then his eyes shrank hard, and he strode out of the sealed room, out through the gate, and rode straight for the Inspectorate.

At the Inspectorate he went straight to the sixth department.

“We greet my lord!”

Meng Jianbai saw Ning Chen and hurried to make his bow.

Ning Chen waved a hand. “Old Meng, we know each other far too well for that… Have a look at this for me. What is in it?”

Meng Jianbai took the scrap of cake Ning Chen handed him, smelled it, and said, “Osmanthus. Honey. And dragon-fragrance grass…”

Ning Chen’s face changed on the instant, and his eyes went wide with shock.

(End of Chapter 408)