Chapter 43: The Shadow Entering Through the Window at Night

A mansion with three bays and five purlins stood grandly, its pitch-black lacquered gates adorned with gilded door-knockers, above which hung a nanmu wood plaque bearing the two characters: "Liao Zhi".

In the inner courtyard behind the atrium, the silk-robed man walked briskly while his domestic servants kept their heads bowed in deference. Candles flickered as his red-satin cloud-topped shoes stepped over the carved wooden threshold. A maidservant stepped forward carrying a bronze basin and a silk towel, curtsying as she asked, "The young master has returned. Pear-blossom white wine is being warmed in the kitchen. Shall I have it served now?"

Pan Ji rinsed his face, tossed the towel aside, and waved a hand dismissively. "No appetite. I'm tired."

"Then let this maid help you change." The maidservant passed the bronze basin to someone else and turned to unfasten his robes.

Pan Ji smiled at her, raised a hand to hook her chin playfully. "Run along. I'll manage myself."

Looking somewhat disappointed, the maidservant curtsied, withdrew, and closed the door behind her.

Pan Ji watched her leave, then walked leisurely to the desk. While flipping through a ledger, he spoke into the empty room, "Come out. There's no one here."

A moment later, the window casement pushed open gently, and a figure wrapped in the chill of winter vaulted into the room, landing as silently as a cat. The figure stood in the shadows, keeping a distance.

"I've warned you before, young master does not like this method of visiting. Can't you use the front door?"

The intruder replied, "If you want the world to know about our shady dealings?"

"Hmph," Pan Ji said with utter disdain. "It's no surprise whatever sort of person appears in my quarters; no one will read into it. It's you who have a guilty conscience. What business brings you here this time?"

"A woman came to see you. What did you tell her?"

Pan Ji paused his hand on the ledger, then chuckled. "Grown heavenly eyes, have you? News travels fast."

He raised his head to look at the dark shadow. "You know her? That's wonderful. Care to enlighten me?"

"She is not someone you can afford to touch casually. Don't grow tired of living."

"Hahahaha!" Pan Ji laughed heartily, as if he had heard a hilarious joke, tapping his finger on the desk. "If you hadn't said that, I'd merely have been curious. Now that you've said it, I'm even more interested."

The other person grunted in silence.

Pan Ji guessed, "Ah, did she come from Gusu?"

Still, the intruder remained silent.

Taking that as confirmation, Pan Ji nodded with a knowing smile. "No wonder she's been hounding the matter of Huang Zhang. So she made a special trip all this way."

"Did you tell her?"

"What are you referring to?" Pan Ji teased deliberately. Seeing the other's expression remain unchanged, he lost interest. "I told her the ship's number."

"...Aren't you afraid of offending that side?"

"Hmph, it's fine. I've always detested anyone trying to pull fast ones right under my nose while fancying themselves terribly clever."

"How do you plan to answer to Chen Chuhou?"

"He won't find out, and even if he does, it matters little. My uncle is perfectly aware that he sired a useless, spineless coward. Handing him over to the Zeng family for a marriage alliance is wringing out his absolute last drop of utility." Pan Ji gave a light chuckle. "If that good-for-nothing had an ounce of brains, he wouldn't bother sparing a glance at an outsider's nephew like me."

With that laugh, he glanced sideways at the dark shadow. "What? Is that young lady getting in your way?"

"Not yet."

"Then it's fine. Ending the amusement too early spoils the fun."

"...The Chen family business will sooner or later be ruined in your hands."

"Hahaha! Then shall we wait and see?"

The visitor turned to leave, but Pan Ji suddenly remembered something and called him back. "Right, help me pass along a message."

"What message?" The intruder's tone was deeply reluctant.

"Just say that batch of goods from the Zhang family in Gusu should be impounded for now."

"What are you up to this time?"

"Hmm... Doing a favor?" He narrowed his fox-like eyes with a cunning smile.

Upon returning from the Duiyu Wine Pavilion, Xu Qi found herself unable to sleep for a long time. Had it not been for the curfew, she would have rushed down to the docks right then to thoroughly investigate that salt cargo ship: the Huaiyan Deyunxing, Cargo Number Thirty-Two.

Tossing and turning, rolling back and forth across the bed half a dozen times, she felt as restless as if bugs were crawling over her skin. Unable to bear it any longer, she sat up.

She draped a robe over her shoulders, lit a lamp, and fetched pen and paper, sitting by the desk in hopes of writing down the complicated string of recent events one by one to help clear her thoughts.

Yet no sooner had she set brush to paper and written two characters than a sound drifted in from next room—

Because of the sudden bundle that had appeared in his quarters, Tan Jiuding had swapped rooms with her. The noise was coming precisely from there.

The sounds were erratic: at times it seemed someone was pacing about the room, at times opening and closing windows. They were rapid, yet extremely light—so light that had she already fallen asleep, she certainly would not have noticed.

Could Tan Jiuding be awake as well?

Xu Qi pondered and decided simply to go knock on his door. Since she couldn't sleep anyway, brooding alone could never match the clarity of discussing things with someone else.

With that thought, she dressed properly, neatened her hair, stepped outside, and turned to knock on the door of her former room.

"Tap, tap."

There was no answer from within.

Had she misheard just now? Xu Qi felt a sudden flush of embarrassment. If she really had misheard, what propriety would there be for a young woman to go knocking on a man's door in the dead of night without cause?

Her ears began to burn, and she quickly turned to leave. At that exact moment, a clear clatter came from inside the room, stopping her in her tracks.

This commotion was far louder than the previous rustling.

Unable to resist, she knocked again. "Tan Jiuding?" she called out softly, applying a bit more force to her hand. To her surprise, the door panel creaked open!

"Eh? Tan Jiu..." Xu Qi peered closely and froze on the spot—

The windows of the room were wide open. In the bitter cold without moonlight, she could clearly sense that there was not a shred of living presence inside.

Tan Jiuding was not there?

"How could that be..." Xu Qi stepped a couple of paces further inside, her eyes adjusting to the dark as she inspected the room carefully. The bed and the desk were completely empty. "Where did he go?"

Her gaze locked onto the window. She hurried over and peered out past the sill. Just then, the familiar rustling sound brushed past her ears—not from the courtyard below, but from... "The roof?!"

Xu Qi twisted around, gazing up at the eaves in shock. A dark shadow flashed past like a bird, melting into the corner of the roof and vanishing instantly, followed closely by a second dark shadow. For some reason, Xu Qi was instantly certain of the second person's identity—"Tan Jiuding!"

That exclamation, neither too loud nor too soft, actually caused the trailing figure to hesitate for a fraction of a second. Yet he neither stopped nor replied.

A bad prehension rose in Xu Qi's mind: Could that habitual thief have returned? And had Tan Jiuding run right into him?

She craned her neck hard to look at the roof, but nothing was there now. Unreconciled, she gathered her skirt and prepared to lift her leg across the windowsill, stepping out onto the eaves to take a look, when a gust of wind rushed toward her, wrapping around her waist and sweeping her back from the window ledge.

"Ah!" she cried out in alarm, falling backward, expecting a painful impact that never came. When she opened her eyes again, both her feet were planted firmly in the middle of the room.

A familiar, warm scent enveloped her, and the arm around her waist immediately loosened.

"Were you planning to climb out the window onto the roof?" Tan Jiuding wore an expression that was a hybrid of a wry smile, a bitter smile, and a dry smile, his eyes dropping from her tangled skirt hem up to her face.

Recovering her senses, Xu Qi blushed and hurriedly smoothed down her padded skirt, asking, "Were you just fighting with someone? Who? That habitual thief?"

Tan Jiuding averted his gaze and murmured an assent. "Should be. Unfortunately, I lost him. His martial arts are quite good."

Xu Qi felt an instant pang of guilt, wondering if it was because she had distracted him just moments before.

The man easily saw through her thoughts. "It has nothing to do with you. I wouldn't have caught him anyway; that fellow... is far too familiar with the terrain here."

"What did he come here for?"

"Unknown. He only left this behind."

He opened his hand. Resting horizontally across his palm was a wrist-cleaver.