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…